The tough truth for some is Canelo Alvarez will never prove himself no matter what he does. The freckle faced, red-headed Mexican who first appeared on the Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley pay-per-view card will always be viewed as the kid who has gotten everything he wanted. Alvarez, who has been a star in the United States since before he could legally buy alcohol from the store now faces a new test, earning the respect of fans who thought that he wasn’t good and the product of favorable matchmaking.

In the past few years, Canelo has fought Austin Trout, Floyd Mayweather, Erislandy Lara, Alfredo Angulo and James Kirkland only to come away with one loss. Albeit many like myself scored the Lara fight for Lara, it doesn’t detract from the fact that he made the fight close and that you had to rely upon what kind of fights do you prefer watching or scoring might I say.

Canelo is the personification for privilege in the modern era and privilege is something a lot of people in the world don’t have after 2008, when the economy went to hell. It is like watching a pretty girl get a promotion at work and you want to believe it is simply just for that reason alone, then you find out that she does the job well or way better than expected, that is Canelo. Up until the past two years a lot of critics had downplayed Canelo’s success as the often flat footed fighter struggles to cut off the ring at times and can get a bit lost against a certain style of boxer.

At the same time, Canelo is not even in his mid 20s yet and might be one of the best body punchers in the game. Though we think of Mexican fighters as pressure brawlers, Canelo is more of a defensive first fighter who uses hand speed and technique to get to his foe as he rarely takes chances just for the hell of it. Alvarez is what most people want fighters to be constantly facing the toughest opposition, but at the same time a lot of those same people don’t want it to be Alvarez, they wish it was someone else.

This leads to confusing conclusion as a boxing fan are you able to watch the sport objectively and be able to give credit where it is due? Remember when people tried to make a case that Tim Bradley beat Pacquiao twice and then told you in the same breathe that Marcos Maidana only won three rounds against Mayweather. It might be that, because boxing is so closely tied to nationality and race that we feel an infinity to certain tribes, groups or cultural and the fighters from them. It is beyond logic maybe boxing is the unforgivable art in which you can never fully be liked by a boxing fan if they dislike you, but you can silence the doubt.