5 Dream Opponents for Saul Alvarez

In the featured undercard fight of last Saturday night's Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto pay-per-view, 21-year-old Mexican sensation Saul Alvarez improved his professional record to 40(29)-0-1 by thoroughly dominating a legend, the multiple division world champion and future Hall of Famer, Shane Mosley, 46(39)-8-1.

The fact that this fight has not been entirely overshadowed by the great Mayweather-Cotto clash is a testament to just how compelling it was. It fit perfectly into the classic boxing narrative of the hungry young lion taking down the proud, old king.

Mosley came to fight, to add one more great chapter to his legend. He worked ferociously to match Alvarez's pace in the middle rounds, holding to the center of the ring and letting his punches go. Even as he was clearly starting to fade later in the fight, he remained game in the face of his relentless and quicker foe.

Alvarez was already hugely popular in his native country and is a rapidly developing sensation among boxing fans in the United States. He was on the cover of The Ring a year ago, after having won his first world title against Matthew Hatton.

Since then he has made four successful defenses, three of them coming by stoppage. After his impressive and high profile performance on Saturday, his star will only continue to ascend. 

And he fights in a talent-laden division, so there is no shortage of compelling fights out there waiting for him. 

Vanes Martirosyan

Alvarez isn't even the only undefeated young star in the junior middleweight division. Former Olympian Vanes Martirosyan is 32(20)-0 and scheduled to fight in June against a yet-to-be-announced opponent.

The Ring has Martirosyan ranked No. 3 at 154 pounds, right behind Miguel Cotto and Alvarez, but aside from being perfect, his professional resume is not especially impressive.

He won the vacant WBC silver medal trinket last February when he TKO'd Troy Lowry in three. Lowry is a 41-year-old fighter with a 28(17)-12(8) record who had lost 10 of his last 14 fights coming into his title shot, including seven by stoppage. 

So any belt that was won by beating Troy Lowry has limited prestige. This is a special title the WBC created in 2010. Martirosyan and Alvarez are the only two fighters to ever hold it.

Martirosyan's amateur credentials are beyond reproach, and he passes the eyeball test with flying colors, as the linked video demonstrates. A fight with him and Alvarez would be meaningful and probably very exciting. 

Martirosyan is promoted by Top Rank, though, so I have my doubts about Arum matching him with The Golden Boy-promoted Alvarez any time soon.  

Erislandry Lara

Erislandry Lara, 16(11)-1-1, is a very sympathetic figure to boxing fans. Between fleeing political persecution in his native Cuba by speedboat and absorbing one of the worst judging decisions in recent memory for his only career loss, to Paul Williams last July, Lara has had to scrap for everything he's got, both inside the ring and out. 

He is a former world amateur champion and was a favorite for gold in 2008, before leaving Cuba to turn professional. In less than 20 professional bouts, he has clearly demonstrated that he belongs among the elite at 154 pounds. 

This fight would unquestionably be a step up in competition for Alvarez. At 154 pounds in 2012, he would represent a far more daunting challenge than Shane Mosley did.

Still, this is exactly the kind of battle Alvarez will need to seek out if he wants to take those next steps towards true legendary status. 

Paul Williams

Paul Williams, 41(27)-2(1), suffered a highlight reel knockout loss to Sergio Martinez in November of 2010. His next fight was a majority decision victory over Erislandry Lara last July, which pretty much nobody thinks he deserved to win. 

As a result, his stock has dipped considerably and, frankly, unfairly. Martinez, after all, is a top pound-for-pound fighter with the tools to catch anybody.

Lara is a very solid, talented fighter, and even if Williams didn't deserve to win (he didn't), losing a fight that close to Lara should hardly be viewed as catastrophic to a fighter's career.

It would be interesting to see how Alvarez fares at solving the puzzle Williams would represent. With an eight-inch reach advantage, Williams' busy southpaw style could make for a great fight against the dogged Alvarez.  

Miguel Cotto

I have heard and read a lot of speculation on Alvarez as a possible future opponent for Floyd Mayweather, Jr., should the fight with Manny Pacquiao continue to go unmade.

Personally, I'm just not very interested in seeing him against Mayweather at this point. That seems to me like asking a kid from Maine or Vermont who just got his driver's license to go drive in downtown Boston. Sure, he'll do it in a heartbeat if the opportunity presents itself, but the odds are high that it will end poorly.

Not that Cotto is going to be a Sunday drive across Route 4. But if fighting Mayweather is going to be like driving in Boston, Cotto is Manhattan. 

When you're a kid from the sticks, driving in Manhattan is intimidating, to be sure. But Manhattan has the grid system, a well-planned, orderly and modern street design. It's a lot easier to avoid getting lost there than it is in Boston's downtown hub, built as it is upon a framework of Colonial era ox-cart trails and Native American footpaths.

I would still favor Cotto easily at this point over Alvarez. After all, no sensible Northern New England parent is letting their teenage kid go driving off into Manhattan, either, grid system be damned.

But Alvarez ain't your typical teenager. Heck, at this point he's all of 21. And he has more than demonstrated that he is highly advanced for his age.  

Cotto is the guy ranked directly above him at 154 pounds. It's a risk, for sure, but being a great fighter means being willing to take risks. And Cotto-Alvarez would generate enough revenue to make losing the "O" worthwhile. 

If Alvarez wins this fight, he's going to be viewed as a pound-for-pound contender. Even a loss could end up enhancing his reputation.

Even more importantly, a hard-fought loss against a vet like Cotto could teach him some important lessons that will come in handy down the line. 

Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.

After Mayweather-Pacquiao, this fight probably has more fan interest than any other potential matchup in the sport. The March 2012 issue of The Ring devoted a cover and two separate articles to discussing a potential clash between Alvarez and the son of the greatest Mexican legend of them all, Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., 45(31)-0-1. 

On paper this seems like a natural: two young, undefeated champions in adjacent weight classes. The fact that Chavez is promoted by Top Rank and Alvarez by Golden Boy is a problem, but not an insurmountable one. 

There is also the matter of the 25-year-old Chavez's size. Although Alvarez and Chavez are officially just six pounds apart, Chavez is a huge middleweight and Alvarez started out fighting at welterweight.

Chavez, who regularly comes in on fight night hydrated back up close to 180 pounds, might end up at super middleweight sooner, rather than later, while Alvarez looks set to stay at 154 for years to come.

Still, this fight could be inevitable.