Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is one of boxing’s most accomplished athletes. With multiple championships in four weight classes and an impressive career that began at just 15, Canelo has achieved unprecedented success, including becoming the first undisputed super middleweight champion.

Style

Canelo is known for his exceptional counterpunching and pressure. Usually, counterpunchers are slick boxers who work on the outside, but Canelo stays true to the Mexican boxing style of pushing forward and luring opponents to attack so he can counter them. He primarily uses head movement to avoid punches while staying in range and frequently attacks the body to set up heavy shots to the head in later rounds.

His style has evolved toward professional boxing rather than amateur boxing. In general, professional boxing is about doing damage, while amateur boxing focuses on landing clean punches to score points. In this way, the meta—or your style of boxing—changes to accommodate the professional or amateur environment. Professional boxing has 12 rounds, whereas amateurs have only three: amateurs can’t afford to let their foot off the gas and must stay active with their punches. In professional boxing, it’s important to start slow and be cautious about taking unnecessary damage.

Canelo’s style relies heavily on managing distance and being patient with his punches. Some say he’s flat-footed, but his footwork is underrated—he can circle and position his opponents in the ring while staying balanced and measuring distance to land his counters.

At his lower weights, especially around middleweight, he was a much more aggressive combination puncher. He has an exceptional chin and would often push forward aggressively, overwhelming his opponents with combinations to the body and head.

Something changed in his style after his first loss to Mayweather. Boxers call this the “touch”—when fighters lose to a better opponent and suddenly improve afterward, as if touching greatness made them great. After his loss, he refined his defense and boxing IQ, learning to fight off the back foot rather than constantly moving forward. As he moved up in weight, he started loading up on punches for maximum power instead of throwing flashy combinations. At 5’7.5”, he needed to earn the respect of the giants he was facing.

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Techniques

Here are some techniques and tricks that Canelo frequently uses, has mastered, and excels at.

Feints

Feints are crucial to his new style and replace the function of his old combination-punching approach. Since he’s now looking for single explosive punches, they can be obvious without proper setup and require a lot of energy. Therefore, feints are necessary to open up opponents for a clean shot. Feints are also more effective given the power of his punches—opponents react more strongly to harder-hitting fighters. It’s a way to pressure an opponent without having to throw an actual punch.

• Feints the left hook to set up the jab
• Throws the right uppercut to set up the left hook to the body
• Taps the left hand upstairs to set up the left hook to the body
• Feints a left hook to the body to set up the left hook upstairs
• Feints a right hand to set up the left uppercut (the right overhand feint to left uppercut is one of my favorite moves in boxing—it’s a thing of beauty)
• Feints the left hand and throws a right uppercut to set up the jab
• Throws a 1-2 or just a straight right to set up the jab

Head Movement

• Rubber necking: Rolling with punches
• Canelo is the purest pro boxer when it comes to head movement. It avoids all damage—something you don’t see as much in amateur boxing, where fighters prioritize throwing more straight punches over defensive caution.
• He uses head movement to set up his counterpunching. He dodges and hits back. It also frustrates and demoralizes opponents when they can’t land a clean shot, similar to Floyd Mayweather. However, Canelo’s head movement is more upright and suited for aggression, like Mike Tyson’s.
• It’s important to note that head movement is ineffective without footwork. Like Mike Tyson, Canelo is a master at using head movement while shifting and repositioning his feet to stay in a position to punch back.
• His reflexes allow him to utilize head movement effectively—he was born with the ability to see punches coming.

Explosiveness

• Canelo’s punches are explosive rather than heavy-handed and thudding, like those of Gennady Golovkin (GGG) or Artur Beterbiev. His power is more like that of Pacquiao or Mike Tyson—it’s the difference between a sledgehammer and a whip. His punching power comes from speed, athleticism, and quick-twitch muscles.
• Explosive punches are ideal for knockouts. A knockout occurs when the brain bounces back and forth in the skull. While heavy-handed punches cause more damage per shot, explosive punches, due to their speed, are more effective in causing the physiological effects of a knockout.
• Speed makes these punches easier to land, helping Canelo accumulate damage on his opponent. He takes advantage of this by sneaking in body shots and, more recently, targeting opponents’ arms.
• His explosiveness also makes his combinations more effective by varying the strength of his punches.

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Strengths

The modern, mature Canelo is a different fighter. He’s much more intelligent about using his tools. He is very heavy for his size—like a little tank—and knows he has explosive power, but his weight affects his cardio in the later rounds. As a result, he’s much pickier with his punches. He sets up body shots to tire out opponents and make them more stationary. Since he often fights taller opponents, he punches their shoulders and arms to lower their guard and expose their head. His pressure and aggression are now more nuanced, using feints and traps instead of simply chasing opponents down with flurries. He’s more methodical and composed when setting up knockout punches.

His defense has also improved dramatically. Because he’s more patient, he uses head movement to get into range and create counterpunching opportunities. While he often enters with a high guard, he will lower it to bait his opponent into throwing a punch, setting up a counter. He trusts his reflexes and his chin—partly due to the built-up size of his neck but also because of his ability to roll with punches (or “rubber neck”). Unlike his younger self, his guard is now more dynamic rather than just a rigid high guard. Overall, Canelo is a smarter fighter: he can adapt to different opponents and has mastered using the tools he was gifted with.

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Weaknesses

Canelo has patched up many of his weaknesses, especially his erratic, impatient combination punching and his cardio. However, his second official loss—to Dmitry Bivol—showed that he’s too small to be the best light heavyweight. Even as a super middleweight, he’s smaller than his opponents and relies on his skill to compensate. But against an equally skilled fighter, as Bivol demonstrated, his size disadvantage is exposed.

His style generally lacks a jab, and he prefers leading with hooks and uppercuts. This can be a problem against opponents with strong chins and solid defense. He also relies heavily on head movement instead of using a jab to close distance, which can cost him rounds on the scorecards. Canelo starts slow to analyze his opponents and has a history of gassing out in later rounds—while judges have often favored him, he has let rounds slip while setting up a knockout.

While Canelo is a master at adapting, his style is relatively straightforward. He does a few things better than anyone else, but against top-tier technical fighters, he struggles. In my opinion, he lost his first fight against Gennady Golovkin (Triple G), which was officially ruled a draw. While Triple G is known for his knockout power, he also has a deep amateur pedigree and Soviet-style boxing fundamentals, allowing him to win rounds with his jab.

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Tier Assessment

Durability: S

• Chin: KO/knockdown resistance
• Other damage: Takes punches well
• Physicality: Strong

Intelligence: A+

• Ability to adapt and execute a plan
• Creative techniques: Traps
• Experience and veteran tactics

Athleticism: S

• Speed: Hand speed, footwork, reaction time
• Willpower/focus: Fighting spirit or heart
• Stamina

Offense: A+

• Punching power/explosiveness
• Variety of punches/combos and feints
• Timing, landing, countering

Defense: A

• Distance, angles, footwork
• Head movement
• Dynamic guard