Canelo Alvarez Wise to Ignore Floyd Mayweather's Gamesmanship

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is gearing up for the biggest fight of his life on Saturday night, a showdown with Floyd “Money” Mayweather at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Fortunately for Alvarez, he hasn’t already put himself at a disadvantage by giving in to his opponent’s gamesmanship.

According to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, Canelo was mildly annoyed over Mayweather’s camp gloating that they had already achieved a victory by making the Mexican fighter drop down to 152 pounds. 

Instead of complaining about it, the 23-year-old cut down to that figure a full day before the weigh-in.

After Alvarez easily made weight on Friday, Mayweather tried to agitate his opponent by giving the World Boxing Council junior middleweight belt to a member of his entourage.

Canelo just grinned at Money, refusing to break as the 36-year-old chewed gum in his face.

Mayweather finally brought the belt back between them and attempted to grab Alvarez’s arm for a photo opportunity. This finally angered the young Mexican challenger enough to snatch his arm away quickly and flash a look of contempt at the man he will be squaring off against in the ring Saturday night.

By keeping his cool throughout the pre-fight process, Canelo has already put himself in a decent position to pull off the impossible and hand Mayweather his first loss.

It’s widely believed that Alvarez possesses the power and punching accuracy to destroy Money, but his lack of stamina and inexperience against top fighters could easily be a downfall.

However, by ignoring Mayweather’s constant goading and standing up for himself at the proper time, Canelo is showing wisdom beyond his years. If he can display that same sort of patience and collectedness inside the squared circle, the contender could end up knocking out the champ on Saturday night.