In boxing, the mythology is stronger than in other sports. It lands harder than a right hand from Deontay Wilder. Contenders are fit into neat-and-tidy storylines, narratives are soaked in hyperbole and “history” is “made” seemingly every other weekend.
Add it all up, and boxing becomes its own sort of champion, an entity with a world-class skill at morphing reality into something more. But sometimes, in some years, there’s no need to exaggerate events, or heighten what happened, because a fighter achieves something that actually matches the unending hype.
Such is the case for Canelo Álvarez, the sport’s reigning pound-for-pound king, owner of boxing’s most impressive résumé and, in 2021, Sports Illustrated’s choice for Fighter of the Year.