Crucial Mistakes Floyd Mayweather Must Avoid vs. Canelo Alvarez

The words Floyd Mayweather and mistake don't often collide in the same sentence. 

He's boxing's top pound-for-pound fighter, undefeated in 44 professional bouts and has rarely even been challenged in the ring, much less beaten. He doesn't make mistakes. He makes you make them, and then he makes you pay.

But he's never faced an opponent who presents the level of danger he'll see from Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on Sept. 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. 

Canelo is younger, stronger and, some would even argue, hungrier at this stage of his career than Mayweather. It's a testament to how dangerous Canelo is that opinion is divided over who will emerge victorious when they finally step in the ring.

When was the last time that happened—when has it ever happened—in a Mayweather fight? The consensus is still that Floyd will emerge victorious, and he might well do just that, but he'll need to avoid making these crucial mistakes.

Don't Underestimate Canelo's Power

In his Hall of Fame career, much has been written about Mayweather's seemingly inhuman ability to hit and avoid being hit in return. His foot and head movement—along with his defensive reflexes and ring intelligence—are unmatched, and they've allowed him to make a career of making others miss.

It's a testament to Mayweather's defensive skill that you can count on one hand the number of times you've seen an opponent land cleanly against him, and the number of times he's appeared hurt by a punch is even less than that.

But Alvarez is like nothing the pound-for-pound king has seen before in his career. He's never really faced an opponent with this type of one-punch stopping power, and he'll need to be firing on all cylinders in order to avoid getting hit with something that could do serious damage.

Underestimating that type of power would be a huge mistake.

In his last fight, Canelo was able to, literally, make Austin Trout do a little dance on his way to the mat.

Trout is a full-fledged junior middleweight who—like Mayweather—is known for his boxing skill and defensive ability. He was able to avoid Canelo's bigger shots for most of the fight, but one crunching right hand in the seventh was all it took to deposit him on the canvas.

That's the type of one-punch power Mayweather has never seen before in his career, and he'll need to be careful to avoid it. 

Keep Moving

As he's gotten a little older, Mayweather has been more content to spend time along the ropes, making his opponent miss with his head, rather than his feet.

That's why Miguel Cotto appeared so effective, and why most felt Robert Guerrero's best chance would be to bully Mayweather to the ropes and rough him up inside. 

Against Cotto and Guerrero—neither is particularly fast or has one-punch power—that strategy wasn't particularly risky. But against Canelo, who has underrated speed and loves to attack the body, it could be potentially disastrous.

Canelo is just 23 years old, but he's smarter than most fighters that age. Like most Mexican fighters, he's a ferocious body puncher, and he would be wise to focus his attack on that area and not Floyd's notoriously hard-to-hit upper body.

He has the power to hurt Mayweather, and if Floyd stays along the ropes, the chances are he'll eventually be hit with something that could do damage. Even if Canelo's shots are blocked, he can still hurt Mayweather with punches to the arms, hands and wrists. That could slow his opponent down and make him easier to hit down the stretch.

His best chance of doing that is along the ropes, and that's a place Floyd can't afford to linger. He wants the fight in the center of the ring where his superior speed and movement will allow him to outbox the younger fighter.

Just Win, Baby!

As long as any of us can remember, Mayweather has been brash, bold and confident whenever he walked into a boxing ring. This fight, despite it's elevated level of risk, has proved to be no different. 

He's not going into the fight to win, he's going in to win in spectacular fashion, and as he said at his open media day last week, he'll be looking to knockout the younger, stronger Alvarez.

"

You know, a lot of times I hit these guys and I make them go into survival mode. Even in the Robert Guerrero fight I was looking for the knockout, but I hurt my hand. So I wasn’t impressed with myself because I didn’t get the knockout. This time around, I’ll be looking for the knockout.

"

This type of statement is typical of pre-fight Mayweather bravado. You'd be hard-pressed to find a recent fight of his in which he didn't predict a stoppage victory. 

Mayweather is not known as much of a knockout puncher—he has only 26 stoppages amongst his 44 wins—but his punches are sneaky strong, mainly because they come with such speed and from angles that make it difficult for his opponent to dodge their full force. 

But Mayweather hasn't scored a stoppage victory since 2011—the highly controversial knockout of Victor Ortiz—and has only two knockouts in the past six years. 

That's why we're going to assume that this is just bravado, and it doesn't reflect an actual strategy of walking in and engaging Canelo from the outset. This is not saying that Floyd doesn't have the stuff to score the knockout—many feel this exact result could come if Canelo tires in the second-half—but that looking for it would be a mistake.

Dismiss the Crowd at Your Own Peril

Hostile environments are nothing new for Mayweather.

He's the most polarizing figure in boxing, and has legions of fans, but many others would like nothing more than to see him finally go down in defeat.

When Mayweather steps into the MGM Grand Garden Arena, somewhere around 11:30 p.m. EDT on Sept. 14, he will be walking into yet another hostile setting, with thousands of screaming Mexican fans there to cheer on his rival Alvarez.

For his part, Mayweather doesn't seem fazed by the popularity of the younger fighter:

"

Among Hispanic/Mexican/Latin fighters, I don’t really know who has the biggest following but if I had to say so, I would say probably Marquez because he has accomplished more and done a lot for the sport of boxing. 

"

That might well be true—it's certainly up for debate—but it's also true that most of the people in the arena on fight night won't count themselves amongst his friends. 

The ability of the crowd to influence judges, and therefore outcomes, is well-documented in boxing. That's particularly risky for Mayweather this time around. Most people expect a lot of close rounds, with Canelo's power versus Floyd's defense and ring generalship. 

If the rounds are close, and the crowd—as expected—is hotly in favor of Canelo, it could sway the judges. So Floyd will want to leave little doubt.

He May Be Young, but He's Ready

There are few fighters in history who shined brighter, performed better and enjoyed the spotlight of the big stage more than Mayweather. 

Mayweather has been here before—many times—and the showmanship, hype and publicity that have gone into the selling of "The One" pay-per-view event are nothing new to him. In fact, they're what he lives for as a fighter and as a performer. 

It's easy to see how one could assume all the demands of this type of event could be the undoing of a young champion like Alvarez.

Alvarez is just 23 years old, and he has never participated in something this big. The edge in experience obviously goes to Mayweather by an overwhelming margin.

But just because Canelo hasn't been on this big a stage before doesn't mean he is a stranger to expectations. He's been groomed for this moment from the beginning of his career, and he's as mentally tough as any fighter in the sport.

Mayweather is as smart as any fighter in history, but if he assumes that his younger foe will wilt under the pressure, he could be in trouble. 

Alvarez is young, strong and determined. He's shown the ability to get better from fight to fight, and he's already shown progress in improving on his flaws. He might not win on Sept. 14, but he'll come to win, and he'll give it all he's got.

All quotes obtained directly.