How Canelo brought the beauty of Mexican music to the world
Before Canelo Álvarez steps into the ring to challenge WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) on Saturday, May 7 in Las Vegas, there will be another spectacle millions will have their eyes on — the ring walk.
Canelo, 31, hails from Guadalajara in Mexico and isn’t shy about representing his home country. Expect Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) to have another iconic Mexican-themed ring walk, especially given it will be Cinco de Mayo weekend.
Let’s take a look at some of the pound-for-pound king’s iconic ring walks throughout the years. Spoiler: there will be songs from Vicente Fernández (R.I.P.) who Canelo idolizes.
May 8, 2021: Canelo vs. Saunders (AT&T Stadium, TX)
Canelo’s super middleweight unification title fight against then-undefeated Billy Joe Saunders set a U.S. indoor boxing attendance record of 73,126, according to longtime boxing journalist Dan Rafael.
No better stage than this one to showcase Mexican pride.
Canelo’s epic ring walk featured the family of legendary Mexican artist Antonio Aguilar: Pepe, Ángela, and Leonardo. They sang a medley of Mexican classics, such as “México Lindo Y Querido,” “El Rey,” and “Viva México.”
Sept. 15, 2018: Canelo vs. GGG 2 (Las Vegas)
Canelo, wearing a poncho that reads “Mexico” across it, walked to “México Lindo Y Querido,” accompanied by a live band. His entourage behind him waved a Mexican flag as he walked in front of a packed T-Mobile Arena crowd.
You can hear the pro-Canelo crowd sing in unison to the song’s chorus.
After a controversial draw a year earlier, the highly-anticipated rematch — which garnered over 1 million pay-per-view buys in the U.S. — lived up to the hype. Both fighters delivered an action-packed fight as Canelo narrowly won via majority decision to hand Gennady Golovkin his first career loss.
Nov. 6, 2021: Canelo vs. Plant (MGM Grand in Las Vegas)
Before he made history as the first Mexican undisputed champion, Canelo brought out the lead singer of the Guadalajara-based band Maná, Fher Olvera.
Olvera accompanied Canelo by singing a rock version of “El Rey.”
One of Mana’s biggest hits is “Mariposa Traicionera,” which has over 320 million YouTube views.
Side Note
For the 10-year anniversary of the BWAA’s 2012 Fight of the Year, it’s worth mentioning Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez’s ring walk in the fourth and final fight against Manny Pacquiao.
Before his jaw-dropping sixth-round knockout of the Filipino legend, Marquez walked into the ring to “El Rey.” It was pretty cool to hear thousands of Mexicans sing in unison to the entire song (skip to 6:00 ).
Photo credit: (Wikimedia Commons)
