Canelo’s stamina could decide Mbilli fight

Canelo faces a relentless puncher after a long layoff.

Saul Alvarez seems to be actively working on his stamina to be fully prepared for his bout against Christian Mbilli, who brings a very high punch volume to the ring. Saul Alvarez took a break of a little over a year, and now has to face an opponent like this right away, one who doesn’t really give you a moment’s rest.

It’s precisely this timing that makes the fight so dangerous. Saul Alvarez has a lot of experience finding openings against aggressive opponents, but to exploit those openings, he has to keep responding. The question is whether he still has enough left in the tank for that, but he seems relatively confident. He told ESPN MX:

“We know he’s a fighter with a lot of stamina, who throws a lot of punches. We have the experience. Obviously, we’ve been working very hard on having the stamina ourselves to be able to respond in the same way”

But with that statement, he also sums up the reality of the fight. Saul Alvarez can land the cleaner and harder punch in an exchange and then defend himself. However, he’ll need more than that to truly control Christian Mbilli. He needs to land body shots in this fight, as they could allow him to slow his opponent down a bit. For him, age and the physical toll could really become a factor, which is why he’d have to capitalize on opportunities for body shots early and effectively. Saul Alvarez is nevertheless confident that he should win the fight. He argued that he is the first experienced opponent to face Christian Mbilli. The question is whether that will help him much if he runs out of steam in the later rounds. It will be very interesting to see who comes out on top. What do you think?

I think it could be an exciting fight. I see Saul Alvarez taking the lead in the early rounds, and, in theory, in the later ones too, but only if he lands some clean body shots. If not, I think the pace could quickly work against him.