Canelo Álvarez

Background

Santos Saul Alvarez Barragan, popularly known as Canelo Alvarez, was born on July 18, 1990, near Guadalajara, Mexico. His parents were originally from Los Reyes, Michoacan. Growing up in a barn, Alvarez learned to ride horses, a hobby he still likes today. Alvarez was the youngest of a big family of eight children. Alvarez got his red hair from his mother Ana Maria. In an interview, Alvarez claimed that he might have an Irish grandfather. Alvarez, however, was not always the celebrated person that he is today. At an early age, he was bullied for his red hair as he was called Jicama con Chile after a popular snack in Mexico.

Being bullied did not stop Alvarez from proving his strength. At the age of 13, Alvarez started boxing after seeing his older brother become a professional boxer. Sure enough, Alvarez became the Junior Mexican National Boxing Champion at the age of 15. His amateur record back then was 44-2 with 12 of those wins being a knockout. After showing great promises in boxing, Alvarez turned professional. Since he started his professional boxing career, Alvarez has shown that he is a skilled boxer from one win to another. His first title win was his fight with Ricardo Cano in 2007. He then won the W.B.A. Fedecentro welterweight title after beating Gabriel Martinez in 2008. Following that win, Alvarez won the N.A.B.F. and W.B.O. Latino welterweight titles and retained the title through several fights (2009). In the same year, he also won the W.B.C. Youth welterweight title, beating Marat Khuzeev. Alvarez didn’t show any sign of stopping. He then won the W.B.C. light middleweight title, which he maintained for several years. At this point, Alvarez was considered “numero uno” after unifying his W.B.C. and W.B.A. titles. However, he lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and lost his titles. This loss did not soften Alvarez — he kept fighting and winning other championships. Alvarez later ventured into business as he established the Canelo Promotions company to promote sports in Mexico. As of 2013, the company represented 40 boxers in Mexico.

The fighter was previously engaged to Miss Mexico Universe 2003, Marisol Gonzales. Later on, Alvarez married his partner, Fernanda Gomez, at the Guadalajara Cathedral. Alvarez has four children including three daughters and one son with different mothers. Other than boxing, Alvarez also likes golf. Reports stated that one of the reasons he retired from boxing was to focus on business and play golf every day.