Canelo Alvarez showed a lot of calm, occasionally funny personality at Wednesday’s final press conference with Jermell Charlo, oozing the confidence of someone who has been on many big stages in his career already.
Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KO) continued to say he’s motivated by Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KO) not respecting his skills and calling him out over the years, while feeling that his experience would be a big difference.
Warned by Charlo not to underestimate what he has done in his own career, Canelo replied, “I never did, and I never do with any fighter. I know what he’s gonna bring, and I’m ready, believe me. I’ve been in the ring with all kinds of fighters.”
Charlo then said that Canelo has never seen a guy like him, which caused Canelo to nearly scoff, while also staying fairly emotionless.
“You don’t know. You haven’t experienced this kind of fight,” he replied. “You will see. And you will learn. You have a lot of skills, but this is different, and you will see.”
After Charlo barked his familiar rhetoric — “I’m a motherfuckin’ lion” — Canelo said simply, “It’s gonna be a great fight. I don’t know what animal I need to say to beat a lion, but whatever. I’m that animal.”
That one got a laugh from many in the room, including Charlo himself.
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“I feel great. I feel ready for this fight. Yes, Jermell is right, I have nothing to prove. But especially this time, I have something to prove to him, because he never believed in my skills. He’s always calling me out, and now I have the opportunity to show him my skills, and that’s motivating me. I had a really great camp, and I’m ready to show everyone my skills, my real skills.”
“I always train 100 percent, I always motivate myself, but in this fight, even more. I have this motivation that he never believed in my skills, he was always calling me out. I’m ready to show him in a couple days.
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On fans and pundits believing he’s past his prime: “You can never ‘prove anything’ to the people, they always have something to say. I just want to prove it to myself, that I’m still at the top.”
“It’s hard to say what he’s going to find. He’s going to feel it. It’s hard to say and explain. It’s something different, and he’s going to realize, it’s something different. He’s never been in against a fighter like me.”
“It means a lot, all I want for my career is history. I want to achieve a lot of things in my career, this is one of them.”