Floyd Mayweather vs. Saul Alvarez: Does Fighting Canelo on May 5 Make Sense?

Floyd Mayweather takes on Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on May 5. Alvarez is 21 years old and seen by some as a green fighter facing the best boxer on the planet. Does it make any sense to fight fans?

Yes. Here's why:

Mayweather (42-0, 26 KO) has stated he won't fight "Pacquiao's leftovers." Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO) has fought three opponents in the last four years that Mayweather has defeated first.

If Pacquiao and Mayweather, the two best and biggest fighters in the world right now, won't settle their egos long enough to come to an agreement and fight, then they'll just continue to one-up each other.

Mayweather took on Shane Mosley (46-7, 39 KO) in 2010, the No. 3 pound for pound fighter in the world in an attempt to outdo Pacquiao who chose a decent fighter in Joshua Clottey (36-4, 21 KO).

Mayweather grabbed a young gun in Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO) who was 24 years old in 2011 when they fought while Pacquiao faced Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO) in a fight many felt he'd win.

Pacquiao did win against Marquez in unimpressive fashion. Some observers even felt Pacquiao lost to Marquez. While Mayweather's knockout of Ortiz evoked controversy, many felt he clearly defeated Ortiz.

Here comes 2012: Canelo Alvarez. Saul Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KO) is 21 years old, the same age Mayweather was when he won his world title against the legendary Genaro Hernandez (38-2-1, 17 KO).

Mayweather is fighting on Cinco de Mayo, the biggest single day for the business of boxing. He previously broke the record for pay-per-view buys on May 5 in 2007.

The opponent was a 34-year-old Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KO). Mayweather himself was 30 years old.

Mayweather had to come up from the welterweight (147 lbs) division to junior middleweight (154 lbs) for the first time to face boxing's cash cow of the time in De La Hoya.

In this scenario, Mayweather is 35 years old, 14 years Canelo's senior. Mayweather, despite having considerably more clout, could end up moving up to the full 154-lb limit to face Canelo.

This will only be Mayweather's second match at that weight. Mayweather is very critical of Pacquiao for his catchweight fights and would again contradict himself heavily if he did so too.

In the game of one-upping Pacquiao, Mayweather is doing a fine job. Unfortunately, I do have to say Pacquiao has a more challenging match on June 9 with undefeated Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KO).

I say that because Pacquiao struggled with Marquez's counter-punching this past November. Rather than running from a counter-puncher to regain his confidence, he's facing his problems head-on.

Credit is due to Pacquiao for doing so when he could face a far less worthier opponent. Both Pacquiao and Mayweather are facing young, hungry, undefeated fighters. What more could a boxing fan want?