Does Canelo still have "it"?

And by "it", I mean the ability to dominate at Super-Middleweight.

On Saturday night, the undisputed super-middleweight champion of the world, Canelo Alvarez, is taking on the undisputed junior-middleweight champion of the world, Jermell Charlo.  The fight is being contested at 168 (super-mid), so Alvarez's belts are on the line.

There are two storylines surrounding this fight…

1) Can Jermell successfully step up 2 weight classes and fight a man who has dominated the division for the past 5 years?

and 

2) Even though Canelo is the same age as his opponent (33 years old), has the fact Alvarez has been fighting professionally since he was 15 years old caused him to lose a step?

(1-0)

I believe the answer to both questions is a resounding NO, so I am responsibly hammering the under 10.5 rounds.

I sat on a panel earlier this week for PBC to discuss this fight in particular, and I stated that Charlo is an elite fighter whose KO rate has gone up exponentially as of late partially because of the work he has been putting in with his trainer Derrick James, and partially because he has gotten very comfortable with navigating the junior-middle/super-welterweight division.  

But Charlo has nothing that Canelo hasn't seen before, whereas Canelo has a ton of things to teach Mell as he dips his toes into 164.  And for the first time in a couple of fights, Alvarez is claiming to be 100% physically, so there are no excuses for him not to deliver a devastating performance.

I sat down with Charlo to discuss the road to this fight, and what he will do afterward win-or-lose… And he says all the right things for fans who think he has a shot… I'm just hoping that my guy Canelo has plenty more left in his tank.

Take a report.

-Large