Cinco de Mayo is a yearly celebration of Mexico's May 5, 1862, victory over France in the Battle of Puebla. It has since become a big day for boxing fans in Mexico as well, as the country's best fighters schedule bouts annually on or about May 5.
The tradition started with Julio César Chávez in 1991, was then handed off to Oscar De La Hoya, and it now belongs to Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, Mexico's current top boxer.
The annual event will continue this year as Canelo will defend his undisputed super middleweight crown on May 6 vs. John Ryder at Akron Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico. It will be Canelo's first fight in Mexico in 11 years. Canelo is a -1200 favorite to win, according to the odds at BetMGM, with Ryder sitting at +700. You can wager on this fight at any of the best sports betting sites now.
Canelo comes in with a 62-2-2 career record and has held titles in four different weight classes -- welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, and super middleweight. He is the only unified super middleweight title holder in history and is pound-for-pound one of the greatest boxers in modern history. He will look to continue his run of epic Cinco de Mayo bouts when he takes on Ryder on May 6.
Here's a rundown of the upcoming event as well as Canelo's best Cinco de Mayo fights:
May 6, 2023 vs. John Ryder
Canelo was born on the outskirts of Guadalajara, and will return home to a raucous crowd expected to hit close to 50,000.
The 34-year-old Ryder comes in as the WBO interim super middleweight title holder, sporting a 32-5 career record. He has won his last five bouts, all but one by decision. He took over the vacated WBO title with a win over Zach Parker last November, but now Canelo is a heavy favorite to unify the belts again.
May 6, 2017 vs. Julio César Chávez Jr.
Canelo vacated his WBO light middleweight title and moved up to middleweight to do battle with Julio César Chávez Jr., the son of the legendary champion.
Canelo won by unanimous decision in front of a sold out crowd at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout drew 1.2 million on Pay-Per-View for an estimated take of $80 million, a huge number at the time.
May 4, 2019 vs. Daniel Jacobs
Back at T-Mobile Arena in 2019, Canelo now held the WBC and Ring middleweight titles as well as the WBA super middleweight belt. Daniel Jacobs held the IBF middleweight crown, so the fight served to unify the titles.
Canelo won by unanimous decision -- 115-113, 115-113, 116-112 -- to capture all the middleweight championship belts.
May 8, 2021 vs. Billy Joe Saunders
Leading up to this 2021 bout, Canelo added the WBO light heavyweight title with a November 2019 knockout of Sergey Kovalev, along with the Ring and then-vacant WBC super middleweight titles a month later in a unanimous decision over Callum Smith. Billy Joe Saunders held the WBO super middleweight belt, so the winner of this fight would take home all but one super middleweight crown.
The fight took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. In front of a U.S. indoor record crowd of 73,126, Canelo won on a Saunders retirement after the 8th round, as Saunders suffered a fractured orbital bone. Canelo led on all the cards at the time.
May 7, 2022 vs. Dmitry Bivol
Canelo unified the super middleweight titles with a win over IBF champ Caleb Plant in November 2021. With his next fight vs. Dmitry Bivol, he would look to add the WBA light heavyweight belt to his collection.
However, it was not meant to be. The undefeated Bivol won by unanimous decision, taking all three cards by 115-113 count. Most observers had Bivol winning by a wider margin than the scores would suggest, but a win is a win. Canelo disagreed and lobbied for a rematch, but instead went back to super middleweight and successfully defended his titles against Gennady Golovkin as part of the The Trilogy in September 2022.
