Unified middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez moves up in weight to challenge secondary title holder Michael “Rocky” Fielding of England. The bout will be held at the fabled Madison Square Garden in New York, fulfilling Canelo’s dream to fight at the Mecca of sports.
Canelo Alvarez is boxing’s biggest superstar today, the heir to Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s pay per view crown. Alvarez is coming off back to back fights with Gennady Golovkin. He forced the Kazakh god of war to a draw in their first bout and then defeated Triple G via majority decision in their rematch at Cinco de Mayo weekend 2018. With the win, Alvarez became the unified middleweight champion adding the WBA (super), WBC, Ring and lineal middleweight belts to his WBO crown.
Alvarez is 50-1-2 with 34 knockouts . His only loss was a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. while his two draws came against Golovkin two fights ago and against Mexican Jorge Juarez in his fourth professional boxing bout. He stands 5-9 and has a reach of 70.5 inches and fights out of the orthodox stance. Canelo is both an excellent technical boxer who also has punching power at least until the middleweight division. He moves around the ring very well and has tremendous defense. He also is a very good body puncher and can adapt to his opponents during fights.
Rocky Fielding was a late replacement for Kenny Anderson in Barry Hearn’s Prizefighter 17 series on Sky Sports. Fielding won the Super Middleweight tournament, earning three stoppage victories en route to winning the finals. He went on to win the English and then the Commonwealth middleweight titles before winning the WBC international super middleweight title with a split decision win over Christopher Rebrasse in 2016. Fielding went on to win the obscure WBA (regular) super middleweight title with a 5th round TKO of Tyron Zeuge of Germany. Although he is a world champion, he is considered a second class title holder because the WBA’s “regular” titles aren’t held in the same breath as its “super” titles.
Fielding has a record of 27-1 with 15 knockouts. His only professional defeat came at the hands of Callum Smith, the current WBA (super) super middleweight champion. Smith won the belt by beating George Groves at the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) super middleweight tournament. The Ali Trophy winner knocked out Fielding in one round three years ago in a bout for the English super middleweight title. Like Alvarez, Fielding is a good boxer who likes to work the body. Although he has 15 knockouts to his credit, Fielding isn’t considered a power puncher and many of his knockouts come as a result of heavy body punching. Fielding is 6-1 and has a 75 inch reach and also fights out the orthodox position.
This is a huge step up in level of opposition for Fielding. Likewise, he isn’t used to fighting in front of large stadium crowds. Not only is this bout happening at the Madison Square Garden, Fielding may be fighting for the first time against a hostile crowd cheering his opponent. On the other hand, the Englishman becomes a dangerous opponent for Canelo because he has nothing to lose and everything to gain in his bout. As for Alvarez, he is taking a huge risk here if he is indeed planning to fight Golovkin a third time early next year. Despite the risk, I don’t think Fielding is considered as a serious threat to Canelo. Just look at the odds.
If you saw their promo stare down photos , notice the size difference between these two. Fielding is 4 inches taller and has a four inch reach advantage as well. But size is probably the only advantage that Fielding has over Alvarez. Canelo has the edge in punching power, defense and in technical skills. If Fielding wants to win, he must utilize that jab to keep the aggressive Canelo off him. I don’t think Fielding has a punch that can hurt Canelo at all. Having said that, I think Fielding tries to keep this fight at a distance while Alvarez will try to stalk his prey and cut the distance. However, Alvarez may be to smart for him.The Mexican is going to slow Fielding down with body shots and then stop him late in the fight. We’re picking Canelo Alvarez to win by knockout.
Canelo has 34 knockouts in 50 wins. That’s a high 58% knockout rate. Fielding isn’t considered a power puncher but has 15 kayoes in 27 wins. That’s also an impressive 56% knockout rate. It’s interesting to note though that Alvarez only has four stoppages in his last 10 bouts and none in his last four outings. Fielding has three knockouts in his last five bouts but all of his fights were against fringe contenders and he’s not fought anybody in Canelo’s level. I think Canelo wins late, maybe in the championship rounds. Prediction: Not going the distance
I think Canelo is just too good for Fielding and I’m sorry but I don’t think the Englishman can pull off one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. Canelo is just a class above Fielding. He’s going to chop his taller opponent down like a tree. I don’t see this fight reaching the final bell and ending in a decision.
This is a more detailed breakdown of how the fight ends. And although there are prop bets on what round this fight ends, those are more difficult to pick. I think the best ending to this fight is a knockout win by Alvarez. In that case,the best bet to make for Canelo is the -400 Canelo by KO, TKO or DQ in the Method of Victory prop bet.
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