Saul Alvarez dominates Lovemore N'Dou, acknowledges mistakes

That's my biggest concern too, but the team seems to be very smart around Canelo. As he stepped up in quality this year, he stepped back in quantity. This year his fight count is 5, last year it was 7, the year before it was 9, so the tendency is good. I for one think a young fighter is perfectly capable of fighting 4 championship fights per year, Canelo's boss even had 5 back in 1994 & 1997. Today's fighters not fighting that often simply because the business changed.

 

Golden Boy quotes from Rafael:

"It's a development fight," Eric Gomez said. "It's a style that he's not all that familiar with. Canelo has been knocking out guys with typical come-forward styles and he's mastered that. But now it's time to start mixing it up a little bit and getting fighters who can box and punch a little bit. I think this is the perfect guy. Lovemore is a very good fighter. He can box, he can attack and he can be aggressive. But he's not just stationary and he moves well. That's what [Alvarez] needs, to be eased into a different kind of style than he's been facing.

"The kid is 20, and we're trying to develop him and get him the experience he's going to need in the next couple of years to be able to fight guys like a Mosley or the top guys. It helps that N'Dou is a former world champion and that he's well known and he's never been knocked out. He's no spring chicken, but the guy can still fight at a decent level. I just think it's the right fight. The kid needs a lot of work, and we're going to develop him and we all felt Lovemore was the right guy."

 

Both fighters weighed in under the contract weight of 150lbs and look ready to go. Lovemore N'Dou is a tricky veteran who like Hopkins and Glen Johnson always keeps himself in good shape, and other than maybe the first Malignaggi fight, he had all very close fights with Cotto, Cintron, Witter etc., and has never been stopped, so I think it's gonna be a very solid test for the 20yo.

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The fight will be broadcasted by HBO Latino, and legally online on wbcboxing.tv

 

And? Hatton is on his career-best run and the only blemish in this run is a draw in him hometown vs. N'Dou.

 

Saul Alvarez dominates Lovemore N'Dou, moves to 35-0

As expected, Lovemore N'Dou took another big name fighter to the distance, showcasing his superb conditioning, good defense and solid reflexes (especially for a 39yo), and he gave Canelo exactly the kind of looks he was chosen for. It was a boxing match from start to finish with both fighters looking to capitalize on mistakes and set power shots up with the jab, and N'Dou tried his best to lure the kid into traps ultimately coming up short and losing a near-shutout as Alvarez didn't leave him many openings. I only gave N'Dou R6 and maybe R10. So no KO this time, but similarly to last year when he faced Lanardo Tyner, it seemed Alvarez was content to go 12.

I noticed that Saul's mouth opened up mid-way which usually is a sign of a tiring fighter, but he looked sharp in the 12th, just a note for the future. Also, an occasional overhand right found success by N'Dou, so Alvarez needs tighten his defense vs. that particular shot. I expect Team Alvarez to hire N'Dou for future sparring, so he'll learn plenty of tricks from th crafty veteran. The thing is: Saul is getting there but there are still some areas they need to work on like footwork, and looking at the improvement of Nonito Donaire under Robert Garcia, I'd seriously consider hiring him for Canelo as he's entering the top level. There are some similarities with Miguel Cotto who showed some mistakes as a young fighter that were never corrected, a fighter can develop as far as the trainer can take him. I believe Robert Garcia has what it takes to bring a youngster to the elite level, why not hire him?

 

No love for Canelo here... well, I have to play the Marisol-card!

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