Who will be "The One?" The megafight between Floyd "Money" Mayweather and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has finally arrived following much hype and fanfare, and Las Vegas odds makers have made their choice as to which man is "The One."
According to Badlefthook.com, Alvarez stands about a 29 percent chance of unseating "Money" Mayweather as the undisputed junior middleweight champion of the world. On betus.com, Alvarez's odds are listed at +210, meaning one would win $280 for every $100 bet on him.
Conversely, Mayweather is pegged at around a 75 percent chance of maintaining his perfect record, and improving to 45-0-0. He's -280 on betus.com, meaning a bettor would need to pony up $280 to win $100.
Alvarez has distinct advantages in size and power over Mayweather, but in the past Floyd's tremendous defensive maneuverability and counter-punching have been enough to stop larger opponents in their tracks.
What makes Alvarez different from previous large opponents, like Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto, is his accurate combination punching. Many boxers with Alvarez's thunder tend to brawl, but Canelo is in fact quite skillful. This could cause Mayweather issues if he finds himself stalked into a corner.
Still, Mayweather has boasted several times that he is prepared for any way Alvarez tries to attack him. "There's a thousand different ways I can beat a guy," Mayweather said.
This fight card has a stellar undercard as well, highlighted by 140-lb. champions Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse. Garcia enters the fight undefeated, but is still considered an underdog on betus.com (+200). Matthysse, the "Argentine Machine," is fresh off an eye-popping knockout win over Lamont Peterson and figures to wallop Garcia into submission.
Some of the Matthysse money could be due to questions about whether Garcia even wanted to step in the ring with him. There were some snags in the negotiations of this bout, leading some to call out Garcia for ducking the power puncher. Garcia responded to those criticisms by saying:
"As soon as my last fight was over, they asked me if I wanted to fight this guy, this guy or that guy," Garcia said. "I told them right away, I wanted to fight [Matthysse]. That's what I said, and I agreed to it before he agreed to it. It took a couple of weeks for the fight to get made. A fight that big, it's not made overnight. They told me not to say anything until it was done, so I couldn't talk."
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