By Ronnie Nathanielsz

World Boxing Council president Don Jose Sulaiman believes the age of Floyd Mayweather Jr who is some 16 years older than his opponent Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in their much-awaited title showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, will be a factor.

GMA 7 will telecast the Mayweather-Alvarez title fight in the Philippines, nationwide, after Sunday All Stars at 2:15 p.m.

 

Sulaiman cautioned that “ it would be a grave mistake to discount Floyd Mayweather due to his age” pointing out that “Floyd has taken care of himself very well always being in optimum condition. He's weathered his career well receiving scant punishment in fights, which haven't transformed into wars, due to his superb boxing skills and more than sound defense.”

 

While there is a huge age difference between Floyd and Saul Canelo Alvarez, Don Jose who praised Floyd's performance against Roberto Guerrero stressed: "Floyd is at the best moment of his career. There's a combination of power, intelligence and boxing quality."  

Sulaiman said the weight advantage definitely lies with Canelo. He explained that after complying with the 152lb catch-weight stipulation, Canelo “would be between ten and fifteen pounds heavier than Floyd on fight night while Mayweather  himself might at most be four pounds heavier than the set limit.”

 

While he remained tactful, the WBC president believes  Canelo Alvarez “would have greatly benefitted from two or three more fights before this megafight.”

Sulaiman explained that Canelo is “facing the most difficult fight of his career seeking glory, and if he won it would be an extraordinary achievement and incredible for Mexico.”