150th Blog Celebration! Mayweather vs. Alvarez preview

This blog is predominantly an MMA blog, but I've got to admit, I am absolutely ecstatic that my 150th blog on this page falls on fight week for boxing's biggest fight this year.

Heck, this isn't just boxing's biggest fight this year. This is the ONLY fight outside the heavyweight division I thought was worth making. So let's talk about Floyd Mayweather vs. Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.

This fight has been hyped HUGE. The card may wind up breaking every pay-per-view record in the books. As such, I feel compelled to ask the questions: Who will win? More importantly, who should you want to win?

The second question is one that I don't think enough people are considering. This card is effectively the 'all-in' play for boxing. "Pretty Boy Floyd" is in the second fight of his six-fight deal that supposedly will end with his retirement. A loss may hurt his marketability in those last few fights, but a win, I'd argue is more damaging to the sport in the long term.

ESPN's Nigel Collins wrote a piece that seemed to lean toward the position that Canelo winning could potentially kill the last marketable star in boxing, and if Oscar De La Hoya's team was a crew of total morons, I'd be inclined to agree. But make no mistake here, Canelo beating Mayweather does FAR more good than the other way around.

Floyd Mayweather could make massive amounts of bank for everyone involved for 4-5 more fights if he kept winning. His last fight ever could be made into one of the biggest days in boxing's history.

With that said, I have to follow the logic of  professional wrestling here: To put over the new face of the company, the outgoing face needs to job to the new one.

I'm not saying that this fight is fixed - far from it. But the fact of the matter is that if Mayweather retires without losing, there's really no new star in place to move into the top position. Alvarez winning, with the right media push, could be a game-changer.

He already has a built-in Mexican fan base, and a win over Mayweather would vault him into the mainstream here in the U.S. I think from a business standpoint, this is a no-brainer.

Now as to the fight itself, you'll have to listen to the audio above for my full thoughts, but this boils down to power vs. speed. Experience for Mayweather definitely could be a difference-maker, but I had Alvarez pegged as the guy to beat Mayweather over a year ago, so I can't go against it.

Honestly, it's not a huge stretch, though. Alvarez only had to cut two additional pounds and will probably weigh nearly 20 pounds more than Pretty Boy by the time the fight starts, so I'm going with Alvarez via KO9.

Undercard Bouts

140 lbs: Danny Garcia (WBA Super Champion, WBC and The Ring magazine) v. Lucas Matthysse (WBC Interim) - Garcia has been a force in this division for a while now. I expect a high-paced fight ending in a Garcia decision.

154 lbs: Ishe Smith (IBF) v. Carlos Amado Molina - This could very well be the next opponent for the main event's winner. I'm going Smith by decision.

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