Ruben Olivares vs Canelo Alvarez, who's the greater fighter?

On my All-Time p4p list I have Olivares at #38 and Canelo #120. I'd say that's pretty accurate.

 

Olivares is my GOAT Mexican; and I'd probably have Canelo floating around 6-10 of all-time Mexicans, so there's a bit of a gap but it's not ridiculously large. And for me personally, I'm quite happy ranking Canelo from here on out. Sure, he isn't done yet but with the way things are going for him in terms of opposition and what fighters are active around his weight; I doubt he'll add too much more to his record.

So for me personally, I'd take wins over a peak and on form Chucho Castillo over an aging, and ancient GGG all day. Canelo has no win as good as the Rose demolition. You could into the depth and look at the small specifics of both of their resumes but if one guy has 3 clear wins better than any of the other guys, he has a better resume imo.

In terms of consistency and longevity, I think it's fair to give them to Canelo. Especially longevity. However, if add that while Olivares was really only at world level for six or seven years; between Medel and Kotey, he had 41 fights. Canelo in the last six years - or whatever six years you think were his best - has had no more than 12. Even since his first world title fight, he's had about half of what Olivares had. Plus, at 118, Ruben was very consistent, especially on his way up.

 

Canelo has oodles of bling with much of it being of a knock-off quality. As already mentioned, there are more weights in which fighters can acquire one of many, fevourishly-manfuctured 'championships'. Undoubtedly Canelo has greater longevity as well as success across a greater weight range, but it is the main conquests we are first drawn to, and straight away Canelo's signature win is debatable. Then I probably rate Golovkin a bit lower than most. Is Danny Jacobs still his best clear win? It is on the subject of excellence, or proving yourself superior to your rivals, which Canelo has struggled with, which you could say is the immediate and forever damning criticism, especially for those who, for an amusingly brief 'I-just-whooped-Caleb-Plant' spell, tried to push the idea he was actually numero uno.

Olivares.

 

Hi Buddy.
Excellent breakdown of the 2 fighters and their careers, I also go with Olivares, not least because he was one of my favs in the early 70s alongside with Napoles.
stay safe AM.

 

Thanks Mike! You too!