Saul Alvarez's quick take on Pacquiao-Mosley, Chavez Jr., and Floyd Mayweather

At last night's Jesse Vargas-Vivian Harris blowout in Primm, Nevada, WBC junior middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez could be found sitting ringside. A huge part of Golden Boy Promotions' foundation, Alvarez is often at many of his promoter's shows and will be inside of the MGM Grand tonight for the 'Action Heroes' pay per view event headlined by Marcos Maidana's collision with Erik Morales.

During a break in Friday's action, Alvarez made a quick jaunt to the dressing room and I decided to catch up with him for a few minutes. While Alvarez was open to an interview, his people stressed that his time was limited and I began firing rapid-fire questions in his direction.

Alvarez won the WBC crown that he now holds with a convincing twelve round decision over England's Matthew Hatton last month in Anaheim, California, the first title of his blossoming career. I asked the 20-year old what it is like living the champion's life.

"I'm happy to get my first dream you know? I'm happy to be a world champion and whatever else I can take," he stated.

In the WBC rankings alone at 154 pounds there are such dangerous names as Alfredo Angulo, Paul Williams, Vanes Martirosyan, and Kermit Cintron lurking around but Alvarez seems to be in line for a September tussle with Yorkshire's Ryan Rhodes this June. Alvarez doesn't want to look too far into the future but can't deny the wealth of talent around him.

"There are so many big fighters," Alvarez continued. "I have to go step by step. I will stop for my next defense in Mexico but there are a lot of threats in my division."

Seven pounds south of Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao will be defending his WBO welterweight crown against Shane Mosley on May 7th in what can be looked at as the year's biggest event thus far. I asked Alvarez for his thoughts on the fight.

"Pacquiao," he said without hesitation. "More powerful, he has speed, momentum, and he is just a bad opponent [for Mosley]."


Over the past year or so people have wondered about a possible match between Alvarez and his countryman Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., son of the legendary fighter with the same name. The two pugs have even had their share of dire words to one another publicly but Alvarez likes Chavez to emerge victorious in his first world title bid in a few months when he meets WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Alvarez also assured that there are no hard feelings between him and Julio.

"Honestly, I'm going with the Mexican and I think Chavez is going to win. [There are] no bad feelings whatsoever," Alvarez noted.

Sitting a few rows in front of Alvarez on this night was undefeated superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr., who was in town to support Vargas. I had to ask Alvarez for his impression of Floyd and whether or not he would ever fight again.

"Great, great fighter and I know we will see him again."