Mayweather vs Canelo: The Picks

Canelo will make it interesting early but Mayweather remains too smart and too slick. Alvarez’s inability to connect will lead to him becoming increasingly passive and Floyd will take command, sweeping the last six rounds. Mayweather by unanimous decision.           — Michael Carbert

The Pretty Boy on points has been for years as trustworthy a wager as you can make in any sport and I’m not about to start betting against the most talented fighter of this generation, even if he’s 36 years old. Like Ortiz and Guerrero, Alvarez will be outclassed by the finer boxer, but that doesn’t mean the red-haired Mexican is not talented, it just means he’s too young and inexperienced to face off against the inimitable Mayweather. Floyd will make it look easy and boring, and the masses will continue hating him for it.         — Rafael García

Like most other people, I think that Floyd will win by decision victory. What’s intriguing is the extent to which Mayweather will open up defensively and trade with Canelo. Just kidding, he won’t do that. Floyd’s too smart and experienced to forego self-preservation for entertainment purposes. He knows that his myth, rather than his style, is the reason people watch in droves, so he’ll fight with caution and dance around a game but hapless Alvarez. Mayweather’s zero will remain intact by night’s end. Floyd on points.
— Eliott McCormick

Most people think Mayweather vs Canelo is a recipe for another predictable “Pretty Boy” points win, but if Canelo moves and uses his jab, he stands an excellent chance of pulling Floyd out of his comfort zone and forcing him to take offensive risks. At that point it becomes a fight the Mexican can win. I think Alvarez knows he can’t recklessly pressure Floyd, but instead has to box him while setting a brisk pace. I see it as a close fight, hard to score, but with Alvarez coming on in the late rounds. Canelo by split, and possibly controversial, decision.
— Robert Portis

The Fighters

You can’t count Canelo out because he’s a natural junior middleweight, so he has a chance. But at the end of the day it’s Mayweather winning on points.
— Paulie Malignaggi

Mayweather’s got the experience and he’s been in a lot of big fights before. That is not to say Canelo hasn’t, but Mayweather has been in more and knows what to do in a fight of this magnitude. I think Canelo took this fight two fights too soon. Mayweather by decision.
— Chris Arreola

Mayweather is too fast and has great timing. I just don’t see Canelo hitting him. I don’t see Canelo being able to do anything to Floyd.
— Zab Judah

The winner of this fight is the boxer with the most intelligence and power … and I hope it is going to be Canelo.
— Rafael Marquez

The loser will be Canelo. The way he loses is what we want to find out. I think Floyd is just too intelligent. He will make it a mismatch. The dude is a beast. He knows that kid is young and hungry so he really turned it up in training. He set the bar high for Canelo. Floyd is going to put on a hell of a performance.
— J’Leon Love

I’ve only seen Canelo fight twice — against Lopez and Trout. Trout gave him some trouble and he isn’t as experienced and as technically skilled as Floyd is. Floyd stays in tip-top shape and is a very relaxed fighter. He is at his peak. It’s going to be hard for anybody to beat Floyd now unless he doesn’t train. Floyd has transcended the game so much that the best fighters out there now try to emulate his style. Floyd wins by a decision.
— Mike Tyson

Mayweather will win because of his speed and experience. He’s been at this level before so that will also be an advantage. He’s the best until proven otherwise. Canelo is talented, young, strong and dangerous, that makes it all the more exciting.
— Lennox Lewis

The only way Canelo will win is if he brings an AK with a full clip. Floyd is going to make it look easy. Mayweather will win by KO in the late rounds.
— Adrien Broner

This fight is 50/50. It can go either way. Floyd has speed and wisdom. Canelo is strong and big. This is a massive fight and the outcome will impact both of their careers in a major way.
— Bernard Hopkins

The Media

The challenge facing Alvarez is that he will have to fight out of his comfort zone to beat Mayweather. He is not a pressure fighter, at least not when he has a live body before him. One need only remember his performance against Trout to dispel the notion that Alvarez is going to employ the faded blueprint of Jose Luis Castillo. When challenged, Alvarez falls back on his boxing ability. And Mayweather will challenge him. Of course, the idea that he can outbox Mayweather is laughable. It’s a better survival strategy perhaps—attacking Mayweather gets you diced up, while boxing him limits the abuse you take—but not a winning one. It’s hard to see how Alvarez wins this fight if he can’t get rid of Mayweather early, and if Mayweather hasn’t gotten old. Expect a competitive start, and even a close fight on the cards, but Mayweather will solve Alvarez by the fourth or fifth round, and then we all know what follows. Mayweather by unanimous decision.
— @jet79, writer for The Cruelest Sport

The power and physique of the Mexican fighter will be among his keys to victory. Even though Mayweather has the experience and finesse advantage, Canelo will not allow him him to do his hit and run routine, and Canelo’s youth will let him complete what Miguel Cotto couldn’t in 2012.
— Alfredo Berrios, ESPN Deportes

I like Canelo as a fighter, but I feel this fight has come too soon for him. He seems to have a conditioning issue and he gasses out in the late rounds. While he does have power in his punches, Floyd is a truly slick fighter, so Canelo will have trouble catching him with that power. I don’t see this fight ending in a knockout. I think it goes the distance and Floyd’s experience will prove to be the winning factor over Canelo’s youth. I am going with Mayweather by a close split decision.
— @BoxingMiss, contributor to Fight Hype UK

Mayweather is too fast, too skilled, too good. As usual, he may take a few rounds to size up Alvarez, but he’ll be moving while he does it, not giving Alvarez a chance to land any telling blows. Once he starts to time him, don’t be surprised to see Mayweather fire a few combinations from the pocket as he dominates the second half. Mayweather wins a unanimous decision.
— Kieran Mulvaney, ESPN.com

No easy fight and anything can happen. I do remember nobody gave credit to the young Oscar De La Hoya against the seasoned Julio Cesar Chavez in 1996. Everything is possible in boxing.
— Claudia Trejos, ESPN Reporter

Floyd gets what he wants – a non-Pacquiao opponent & decision victory.
— @ivan_goldman, N.Y.Times best-selling author and boxing writer

Canelo is a big, strong kid who can punch and sell tickets. And I’m sure Oscar would like nothing better than to see him beat Mayweather into a fine dust, but I just don’t see it. The kid barely got past Austin Trout and he’ll find out fairly quickly that Mayweather is by no means Austin Trout. Mayweather by TKO in the tenth.
— Lyle Fitzsimmons, CBSSports.com

Floyd scores a late technical knockout, probably in the eleventh.
— @GilberticoWBA, WBA Vice President

In what I believe will be his most difficult fight since the early rounds of Ricky Hatton, the entire Oscar De La Hoya fight and the first two rounds of Shane Mosley. I see Mayweather pocketing enough rounds to win a close but unanimous decision over Canelo Alvarez.
— Lem Satterfield, Ring Online

Alvarez has the size and strength to cause Floyd some problems, but Mayweather is smart enough to get through any awkward moments and pull clear in the second half of the fight to win a decision.
— Ron Lewis, The Times Of London

Mayweather will toy with Canelo and win by decision.
— @EPHECTO, boxing specialist for Diario Olé

The biggest fight of the year is also one of the easiest to predict. Canelo Alvarez is young, strong and improving, which should work in his favour when he fights Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, the Mexican has neither the skills nor experience to beat a fighter of Mayweather’s ilk. Alvarez will fight hard but leave the ring frustrated and the loser of a one-sided, unanimous decision.
— Mike Rosenthal, Ring Online

Mayweather is hands down the best welterweight on the planet but on September 14 he will fight a middleweight at a 152-pound catchweight. I don’t think having to sweat off the extra two pounds will drain or slow down the 23-year-old junior middleweight champion, who has a higher ring IQ than he’s given credit for. I think Alvarez will land the harder, more effective punches in a tit-for-tat boxing match. He might even score a knockdown. Alvarez takes a close unanimous decision.
— Doug Fischer, THE RING magazine