Floyd Mayweather Fight: How Money Can Avoid a Rematch with Canelo Alvarez

Even if Floyd Mayweather beats Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on Saturday, Sept. 14, he may have to face the Mexican-born superstar in a rematch—however, there is a way he can avoid that.

Canelo is by far the toughest opponent Mayweather could have faced in the sport today. Alvarez is coming off a win against Austin Trout back in April and is getting respect as an elite fighter, while Mayweather topped Robert Guerrero back in May to get to this point.

There is a great deal of expectations on Mayweather in this fight, and that's understandable. Mayweather has never lost, and recently he hasn't faced many challenges to his undefeated record. Alvarez presents a tough, younger challenge for the 36-year-old to take on.

Should the raw and inexperienced 23-year-old step into the ring and get creamed by the champion, Mayweather can avoid having to repeat their bout down the road. That kind of dominant win can come in a few ways for Money.

Mayweather could find himself in a position to knock Alvarez out and actually do so at some point in the fight. Now, it would be more helpful to Alvarez's case for a rematch if the knockout came later in the fight, but an early knockout will dispel any chance of Alvarez getting a rematch.

That scenario isn't likely, considering Mayweather's past fights and the fact that he's stopped just two opponents in his last nine bouts. Going the distance is a more realistic result, and that could still lead to Alvarez not earning a rematch.

If the two fighters are very even for most of the fight and Mayweather pulls out a win by a slim or reasonable margin over Alvarez, the argument in favor of a Canelo-Money rematch will have traction.

A performance that has Money scoring a ton of points and winning by plenty of rounds will crush the hopes of an Alvarez-Mayweather repeat next year or beyond. It will show that Mayweather is light-years ahead of Canelo and that the youngster just doesn't belong in the same ring as him.

So, just because this fight is generating a lot of buzz and money, that doesn't mean there will definitely be a rematch. The end result will heavily factor into such a decision, and if Money dominates in one way or the other, he will move on to bigger and badder opponents.