No easy night for Canelo

Who's hands will be on the belt come Saturday night?

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (38-0-1, 28 KO's) is one of the most exciting fighters in world Boxing and this weekend he has his fourth world title fight of the year, defending his WBC light middleweight belt against Kermit Cintron (33-4-1, 28 KO's).

Alvarez on paper is a pretty small guy for light middle, standing only at 5ft9, but the amount he puts on after a weight in is massive and he shows his strength in the ring come fight night. There is talk that he may not be able to go up many weights, but I can see him going up to at least super middle. In his last fight he simply proved too strong for fellow Mexican Alfonso Gomez in six, but it was a close fight before then and it looked a better match than people thought. This kid is a terrific fighter, I am starting to become a real fan, but I do think he's still a bit rough round the edges and if guys like Lovemore N'Dou, Matthew Hatton and Ryan Rhodes (stopped in final round) can go into the 12^th round with him, I believe Cintron has the experience to hear the final bell.

I do think the Puerto Rican will come to win, this really is his last shot at the big time and being a hot and cold fighter, this could be the time he just puts everything on the line and goes hell for leather for a world title. I watched him fight an improving guy called Carlos Molina in July and he was absolutely shocking in losing a 10 round decision, but he came back into the ring just a month after and claimed a 10 round UD over Antwone Smith. He had been out of the ring for 14 months before the Molina fight and needed some rounds, so I'm giving him another chance. He did throw some nice combinations in that Smith fight and the only guy who's really outclassed Cintron is Margarito, whi's stopped him twice, and like Manny Pacquiao, a Mexican might just be his bogeyman.

The bookies heavily fancy a Canelo stoppage and I dont blame them as the kid is an absolute machine, but I just fancy Cintron to turn up and make a real fist of it in Mexico City. This really is his last chance and on his day he can match the best, so despite Alvarez being on his way to elite level, he's not there yet!