The fight between Saul Alvarez and Jermell Charlo will take place in Las Vegas

On Saturday in Las Vegas the most prestigious fight of the year in professional boxing will take place in all formal terms. In it, Mexican Saul Alvarez, the absolute world champion in super middleweight (up to 76.2 kg), will defend his four titles in a fight with American Jermell Charlo, who is also the absolute champion, only in welterweight (up to 69.9 kg). A successful jump up two categories could help Charlo consolidate the image of not just a very strong, but an outstanding boxer, and for Alvarez, who has long been considered the best fighter in the world, a win will help raise the tone that seems to have been slightly undermined by last year’s defeat to Russian Dmitry Bivol.

It is very easy to present the fight, which will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, as a historical event without any reservations. The formal reason is simply eye-opening. This will be the first time in two decades since the World Boxing Organization (WBO), long ranked below the other three structures – the World Boxing Council (WBC), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the International Boxing Federation (IBF), acquired the same , like theirs, the status when absolute world champions who own all four belts fight among themselves. Moreover, the meeting does not take place on a “neutral site”, but on the field of one of the rivals – in the super middleweight division. Its king is Saul Alvarez, who probably desperately wants not only to win, but to win beautifully.

Even at the beginning of this decade, there was something like a strong consensus in the boxing community. It was Alvarez that it recognized as the main genius of the genre, its most extraordinary character, who can handle any achievement, who, no matter who opposes him, will definitely defeat his opponent – and not in torment, but playfully, with a twinkle. But in 2022, the Mexican, who earned fame in the middleweight division (up to 72.6 kg), decided to move up to light heavyweight (up to 79.4 kg) in order to fight Russian WBA champion Dmitry Bivol. And that fight greatly spoiled the reputation of the genius. Bivol easily figured out all his tricks and won on points. And judging by what happened after this fight, it seemed that Alvarez, along with the undisputed leadership in various ratings of the best fighters, regardless of weight category, had also lost his former tone. He played two matches, in both – with the representative of Kazakhstan Gennady Golovkin and the British John Ryder – he won on points, but without a spark, or something, in some completely routine mode, previously not characteristic of him. The “sign” of a new battle suggests higher motivation. Winning it will, whatever one may say, no longer be an ordinary achievement and will improve your reputation.

In the case of Jermell Charlo, the same age as Alvarez (both are 33 years old), things are even simpler. Charlo has long been included in various classifications of the brightest fighters in the world, but they still didn’t dare call him an outstanding fighter, a titan. And here is a chance to break into the most elite club thanks to a non-negotiable feat. In the end, Charlo spent virtually his entire career in the welterweight division, and he is making the leap up two categories, apparently inspired by examples from the past, recent and distant.

Indeed, in the pursuit of fame and money, quite a few celebrities have jumped the whole category before Jermell Charlo. The list of those for whom nothing good came of it is, of course, much longer than the list of those for whom everything worked out, but the second one is not so tiny. It contains a number of sonorous names – Roy Jones, Sugar Ray Leonard, Michael Spinks, Manny Pacquiao. And Saul Alvarez himself is there too. His first experiment with conquering the light heavyweight division dates back to 2019, and, unlike the second time, it was successful: Alvarez knocked out Russian WBO champion Sergey Kovalev.

Although, perhaps, other factors are adding to Jermell Charlo’s optimism. Let’s say that his own rather respectable height is 180 cm, several centimeters higher than that of Saul Alvarez, which makes it easier to adapt to an unusual category. Or the potential “inconvenience” of Charlo’s style for the Mexican, noted by ESPN expert, former world champion Timothy Bradley and many of his colleagues. Saul Alvarez has recently dealt mainly with boxers who prefer subtle, neat, somewhat conservative boxing. And now he will have to fight against a fighter who in the ring looks like a bull terrier who heard the command “front”, aimed at destroying the target in front of him, and whose fists have a lot of power.

Alexey Dospehov