Canelo Alvarez vs Rocky Fielding preview: How the two super middleweights compare ahead of fight in New York
Britain's super middleweight champion Fielding will defend his WBA title in New York on Saturday night
Rocky Fielding has a mammoth task ahead of him in the early hours of Sunday morning when he defends his WBA (regular) super-middleweight title against Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez at Madison Square Garden.
Despite standing at 6’1” and having a three inch reach advantage, Fielding is a massive underdog for the bout which will see Mexican superstar Canelo fighting over 160lbs for just the second time in his career.
Canelo is the current holder of the WBA (super), WBA and Ring magazine middleweight belts since he dethroned former unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in their rematch in September.
Fielding last fought in July, when he travelled to Germany and claimed the WBA (regular) super-middleweight belt via a technical knockout decision over Tyron Zeuge.
Take a look at how Canelo and Fielding compare below.
Both boxers adopt an orthodox stance, but it is the Mexican who is considered not just the superior pugilist in this fight, but one of the pound-for-pound best in the world.
He is also vastly more experienced having turned professional at 15 in 2005, and won 50 of his 53 contests.
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An exceptional counter puncher with tremendous head movement, he is a devastating body puncher and is known for his ability to stalk down his opponent and punish them with accurate and usually devastating shots.
Canelo's resume is virtually unmatched among the current crop of boxers across any weight class, having fought and beat the likes of Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, Austin Trout, Shane Mosley, Junior Cesar Chavez Jr and Amir Khan. His sole loss came against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2013.
Fielding has steadily rebuilt his career following a crushing first round defeat to Callum Smith and while his record does not contain any of the division's glamour names, he has seen off durable opposition such as Christopher Rebrasse and John Ryder and was victorious abroad against the previously unbeaten Zeuge.
Fielding will be the latest British fighter (Matthew Hatton, Ryan Rhodes, Khan and Liam Smith) to trade leather with Canelo, who has beaten each one and will be aiming to improve that statistic to five.
Full fight card
Canelo Alvarez vs Rocky Fielding - WBA World Super-Middleweight title
Tevin Farmer vs Francisco Fonseca - IBF Super-Featherweight title
David Lemieux vs Tureano Johnson - 12 rounds Middleweight
Vergil Ortiz Jr vs TBA - 10 rounds Super-Lightweight
Sadam Ali vs Mauricio Herrera - 10 rounds Welterweight
Katie Taylor vs Eva Wahlstrom - IBF/WBA World Lightweight Titles