| |
|
|
Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Canelo & Lemieux Established
Favorites
By Daniel Cloutier
Photos: Marlene Marquez
LAS VEGAS —— If the Las Vegas bookies are right, if they hit
the target, the Mexican Saul Canelo Alvarez and the
Montrealer David Lemieux will celebrate with bottles of
champagne to night after their fight in the ring of the
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The bookies established Alvarez favorite to win by five to
one, and Lemieux by... 11 to one.
In the main event of this “Cinco De Mayo” boxing show,
Alvarez (48-1-0) will fight his countryman Julio Cesar
Chavez Jr (50-2-0), and Lemieux (37-3-0) will face the
Mexican Carlos Reyes (35-4-0). Four more important bouts of
the evening will be televised by HBO pay-per-view.
“This event is the Cinco De Mayo boxing show, an important
celebration for the Mexicans, and the population of my
country will certainly be proud of me Saturday evening,”
said Alvarez after the weight in. “I am perfectly prepared
for this fight, and I am positive I will offer to my fans a
great performance. Since few months, Chavez showed he has
absolutely no respect for me, and he will pay the big price
for that. Never I have been so motivated at few hours of a
bout. I am determinate to hurt Chavez in each round, and
beat him by KO or TKO. I know I am stronger physically than
him, I know I hit harder than him, I know I am more
intelligent than him in the ring, and I will definitively
score a spectacular win. Don’t mention the name of Gennady
Golovkin, I am totally concentrated on Chavez now.”
The promoter of the Golden Boy Promotions organization, the
former champion of the world Oscar De La Hoya, is planning
to oppose Alvarez to Golovkin (37-0-0), the WBA, WBC and IBF
middleweight champion of the world, if Alvarez get out of
the ring in the winning shoes Saturday evening.
“Alvarez is established favorite to win this fight? I just
don’t care,” said Chavez. “You know as me that the Las Vegas
bookies who established Alvarez favorite, won’t be in the
ring to help him to win Saturday evening! The fighter who
will deliver the best performance in our fight will be the
big winner, and this fighter will be me. I am bigger than
Alvarez, I know I will resist to his power punches, and we
will see how long time he will be able to resist to my power
shots. As you know, I am a very intense fighter, I am
prepared for a rough fight, and I really believe I gonna win
before the 12th round. This is the biggest challenge of my
career, and I am determinate to offer to my fans the best
performance of my career.”
Alvarez’s trainer, Eddy Reynoso, is persuaded that the
Mexicans boxing fans will be extremely proud of his fighter
Saturday evening.
“Canelo got a marvelous training camp, his motivation is
clearly at the top, and I am sure he will give us a superb
performance Saturday evening,” said Reynoso. “Canelo is so
determinate to become the best fighter pound for pound in
the world.”
Alvarez is actually ranked eight best fighter pound for
pound in the world.
Chavez’s trainer, Nacho Beristain, is clearly happy to see
his boxer so confident at few hours of the moment of the
truth. “Julio worked like hell in the gym during the last
two months, said Beristain. I am not surprised at all to see
him so motivated and so confident at few hours of the fight.
I am expecting from him a great performance and a great
win.”
The referee of the main event will be the Californian Kenny
Bayless and the judges will be Adalaide Byrd and Dave
Moretti, from Las Vegas, and Genn Feldman, from Avon,
Connecticut.
Just before the main event, the Montrealer middleweight
David Lemieux (37-3-0), the WBO inter-continental champion
and the WBC Americas champion, will face the Mexican Carlos
Reyes (35-4-0).
“I want absolutely to face the biggest names of the
middleweight division on the international boxing scene,
than, I got to beat clearly Reyes, and I will do it,” said
Lemieux. “I am determined to beat him by KO or TKO, even if
he gave a solid opposition to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in 2015.
I hurt Curtis Stevens in each round in March at the Turning
Stone Casino (Lemieux won by KO in the third round), and I
want to repeat the scenario with Reyes. This Mexican boxer
has the reputation to be aggressive, and it’s absolutely
perfect. More a fighter is aggressive, more I get
opportunities to hurt him. I know I am a more destructive
puncher than him, and I will prove it in few hours.”
Reyes replied: “I know I have the skills and the power to
dominate the fight, and trust me, I will be the winner. I
gave a superb opposition to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in 2015,
then, I have certainly the weapons to beat a fighter like
David Lemieux.”
At the weight in, supervised by the Las Vegas Athletic
Commission, Alvarez posted an official weight of 164 pounds,
Chavez 164 also, Lemieux 163 and Reyes 163 pounds also.
Before the fight Lemieux-Reyes (10 rounds), the Argentinian
welterweight Lucas Mathysse (37-4-0) will fight Emanuel
Taylor (20-4-0), from Cleverly, Maryland, for WBO
international and WBA Intercontinental championships.
The Californian Joseph Diaz Jr (23-0-0) will face Manuel
Avila (22-0-0), another Californian, in a NABF featherweight
championship bout (10 rounds).
The first fights of the evening will involved the
Californian lightweight Ryan Garcia (8-0-0), the Texan
female flyweight Marlen Esparza (1-0-0), the Mexican super
welterweight Raul Curiel, the super bantamweight Ronny Rios
(27-1-0) and the Mexican Joseph Aguirre (16-0-0).
Garcia will face the Californian Tyrone Luckey (8-6-3),
Esparza will fight the Texan Samantha Salazar (2-3-1),
Curiel will be opposed to the Mexican Jesus Sanchez (1-1-2),
Rios will meet the Mexican Daniel Noriega (28-10-1), and
finally Aguirre will challenge his countryman Angel Aispuro
(8-4-2).
At the weight in, Mathysse posted an official weight of 147
pounds, Taylor 147 also, Diaz Jr 125, Avila 125.1, Garcia
131.7, Luckey 131.5, Esparza 1105, Salazar 111, Curiel
148.5, Sanchez 148.5, Rios 122, Noriega 122, Aguirre 135 and
Aispuro 134 pounds.
|
|
|
