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When Floyd Mayweather Humiliated Canelo Alvarez With His In-Ring Showboating

When Floyd Mayweather Humiliated Canelo Alvarez With His In-Ring Showboating

Money Mayweather mercilessly taunted his rival after a wild haymaker crashed into the ropes...

Alex Reid

Alex Reid

Mexican star is one of boxing's pound-for-pound kings but Floyd Mayweather sensationally mocked his wild punch when the two clashed.

Promoted simply as 'The One', Mayweather faced hot young star Canelo Alvarez in 2013. Both were unbeaten but the fight wasn't competitive, as 'Money' schooled the 23-year-old, almost to the point of embarrassment.

Alvarez loaded up and swung in the 11th round, violently hitting the top rope after missing Mayweather - who glided away then bent over and stared out of the ring in exaggerated fashion, as if watching the punch sail to the back of the arena.

Have mercy Floyd. Such exaggerated showboating, with an elite puncher looking to cave yours ribs in, could only be pulled off by a master boxer in total control.

Billy Joe Saunders, the rumoured next opponent for Canelo, pulled a similar trick when he stopped and put a glove above his eyes to watch a David Lemieux haymaker miss by miles in 2017.

But Canadian slugger Lemieux isn't in the class of Alvarez, the man Mayweather taunted and who now sits atop Ring magazine's pound-for-pound ratings as the world's No 1 boxer.

The only shock in Las Vegas when Mayweather met Alvarez came via the scorecards, with one judge scoring the fight a 114-114 draw despite most at ringside seeing it as a near shutout.

Fortunately, the other judges scored for Floyd, who extended his record to 45-0 while earning a guaranteed $41.5 million plus a share of the pay-per-view sales.

The one-sided victory only looks better in retrospect as Alvarez racks up impressive displays against the likes of Gennady Golovkin.

PA Images

Many criticised Mayweather for cunningly picking off Canelo before he reached his peak, but the sport's highest-earning fighter gave a brilliant response to that theory on his UK tour this March.

"When I was 21 and I fight a guy who's 30, you know what they say?" he asked in London's York Hall. "He was over the hill; Floyd beats fighters who are over the hill.

"Now if I'm 36 and Canelo is 23 - I'm more than 10 years older than him, and you're better when you're younger.

"But when I beat someone younger, then guess what? It [the story] becomes: I got too much experience. OK. How about the guys I beat who are my age?"

Mayweather's belief that a double standard applies to his career is backed by the fact that he beat an established, 32-year-old champion in Genaro Hernendez the year he turned 21.

Some fight fans will never forgive him for their belief that he delayed facing Manny Pacquiao until both were past their absolute prime.

But Mayweather's box-office success is based around the love and the hate he generated - and spectacularly grandstanding against a future great gave plenty of ammunition to both camps.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Boxing, Canelo Alvarez, Floyd Mayweather