Canelo Alvarez, from Guadalajara, Mexico, is the super middleweight champion of the world, says Boxing Champions. He had won titles in three different divisions, including super middleweight, junior middleweight, and light heavyweight. Santos Saul Alvarez Barragan was born on July 18, 1990. Growing up, all of the Alvarez boys of the family were boxers. By the age of 10, Alvarez was often getting bullied because of his red hair and freckles. He was motivated by his brothers and father to use his fists to take out his frustrations and rage on those who teased him. He quoted “When I was a little kid, I was always fighting, I was always beating the other kids up.” From there, Alvarez found his way to Guadalajara’s famed Julian Magdaleno Gym, where the father and son training team Chepo and Eddy Reynoso nicknamed him “Canelo,” the Spanish word for “Cinnamon.”

Canelo was 11 when he watched his older sibling Rigoberto’s professional debut. “My older brother is the one who got me started in boxing,” Canelo said, “He’s the one who inspired me.” Canelo went 44 winning games to two losses as an amateur starting at the age of 13, winning a silver medal at the Junior Mexican National Championships and becoming the Junior Mexican National Champion after that. After two years, the Reynosos convinced Alvarez’s parents to let their youngest son turn pro because they could no longer find amateur opponents, says Premier Boxing Champions.

Every year around Cinco de Mayo, Canelo has a fight where he proves why he’s the best Mexican boxer in the world. Recently, Canelo fought another fellow Mexican Boxer, Jaime Munguia from Tijuana, Mexico, who had 43 wins and just experienced his first loss against Alvarez on May 5. They went through all 12 rounds before Canelo threw down a knockdown against Mungia the fourth round. The press conference after the win of Canelo vs. Mungia. Mungia told Premier Boxing Champions that he knew going into the fight he was gonna learn many things and it was a great experience to fight the best Mexican fighter in the world in Las Vegas. The fight was more drawn to witness a fierce competition between two Mexican Fighters. After the fight, Canelo said  “I still love boxing, I love boxing so much. Boxing is my life. Boxing made me the person I am today. That’s why I love boxing so much. And I love boxing so much because of my fans, too…Cinco de Mayo I’ll face whoever. I don’t care.”