With Mayweather out of the way, Alvarez circles two dates every year

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, May 1, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez gives himself partial credit for the bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao finally happening last year.

Alvarez, the 25-year-old boxing superstar from Guadalajara, Mexico, insisted he would stage his own bout on Mayweather’s announced fight date of May 2, 2015, unless the so-called Fight of the Century was arranged. More than just a way to exert his influence, Alvarez mainly used the tactic to express his dissatisfaction with Mayweather’s scheduling demands.

Alvarez protested how Mayweather domineered the boxing world by scheduling his fights only on the weekends of Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day in the last seven years of his career.

“I want to recuperate those dates and take them back to the Mexican people,” Alvarez said through a translator at a recent news conference. “There should always be a Mexican fighting on those dates.”

And now, according to Alvarez, there will be. With Mayweather retired, Alvarez plans to get into the routine of fighting around May 5 and Sept. 16 annually, beginning with his middleweight title fight against Amir Khan on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

The biggest Mexican star fighting on the boxing-crazed country’s holiday weekend continues a tradition that Julio Cesar Chavez started in the 1980s.

“On that date, people want to see fights, people want to see action,” said Canelo’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, who himself frequently competed on the same weekend. “People want to see great boxing and they will get that on May 7 because Canelo is an exciting fighter to watch. I think it’s important that we have a fighter like Canelo own this Cinco de Mayo weekend.”

Khan is something of a symbolic choice to help Alvarez usher in the new era, because in the past Mayweather has closed off that weekend to him, as well. Two years ago, Mayweather ran an online poll to determine his Cinco de Mayo weekend opponent between Khan and Marcos Maidana.

Despite Khan winning with nearly 60 percent of the votes, Mayweather chose Maidana. Khan remained on the short list as a potential Mayweather foe, but never got the call.

“I wanted the big fights against Mayweather, Pacquiao and both fights didn’t happen,” said Khan, 29. “I wanted the next big thing, and the next big thing was Canelo.”

Khan will find himself solidly in enemy territory. When Mayweather was Cinco de Mayo weekend’s headliner, Mexicans often took over the event with ranchero and mariachi bands performing in the concourses and Mexican flags waving in the stands.

Even Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, had mixed feelings about staging the Mayweather fight on the date during negotiations last year.

“To poach that date, which is a Mexican holiday, by non-Mexicans, shows a terrible disrespect for the Mexican people, both those living in Mexico and those living in the United States,” he said. “And anybody who does the poaching ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

Barring injury, Alvarez should have a hold on the Mexican holiday weekends for the foreseeable future. He’s a proven draw, with his own bout against Mayweather in September 2013 setting a then-record $150 million in revenue off of 2.2 million pay-per-view buys.

The majority decision remains Alvarez’s only loss, and he’s bounced back by winning four consecutive fights, including two by knockout. If he can hold up as a 5-to-1 favorite against Khan, a matchup with Gennady Golovkin, one of the world’s top-rated pound-for-pound fighters, awaits in September.

Alvarez said he had worked his entire career to get into this position.

“Those are the dates that I’ve always celebrated and the dates that my countrymen have celebrated,” he said. “So I’m excited that I can now finally fulfill my dreams of continuing that tradition that many great fighters laid out.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.