“Canelo” Alvarez: I Will Be Ready for Pacquiao in a year.”

Rising Mexican phenom, twenty year old Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is dead set on building his legacy to foreshadow the great Julio Cesar Chavez as not only Mexico’s greatest fighter but an all time great. Alvarez is in the final stages of his training camp as he will defend his WBC light middleweight title next Saturday against England’s Ryan Rhodes in the lions den, Alvarez’s home of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

Alvarez held a open media work out earlier in the week as the fighter spoke to assembled media about his opponent Rhodes and his aspirations to land a fight with pound for pound king, Manny Pacquiao.

Saul Alvarez: “Oscar de la Hoya recommended I train in Big Bear and I really liked it. It was a really good place to train. I could really focus up there with no distractions. Training camp went by really fast because I love my job. At times training at home is a distraction, so training in Big Bear was a really good change. I had a good camp. It took me about 10 to 15 days to get used to the altitude. It was rally hard to breathe, a 25 minute run felt like an hour.”

“Rhodes is a strong fighter and is going to be tough. He can take a good punch and he’s awkward because he can switch hit. I want to give Jalisco the best ‘Canelo’ I can. I’m excited to defend my title in Guadalajara in front of my people. I consider it an honor to be compared to the ‘Golden Boy’ but I obviously have my mind set to accomplish much more. Records are made to be broken and that is my goal. My goal is to be the best fighter. To be the best, you have to challenge the best, and I think I could be ready for Pacquiao in a year.”

Jose Reynoso (Alavarez’s Manager and Trainer): “I liked having training camp in Big Bear. It was really good preparation and we had an intense camp. You can tell he’s really confident and focused right now. We are all very excited to return to Mexico. We are ready to be there and fight in front of our people. We didn’t do anything else besides train, watch film of Rhodes and watch movies. We rented over 105 movies. Rhodes is a complicated fighter. He switches hands and is very strong. We worked hard to overcome that.”