Canelo needs to learn a lesson from 'Money May' and save the exhibition bouts for once his career has concluded

There is little Canelo Alvarez can do in however many bouts it is he has remaining in his professional boxing career that would seriously impact his legacy, one way or another. He's a legend and will soon walk with the greats in the annals of boxing history.

Alvarez is one of the best of his era and, at least for a while, was the absolute best fighter in the world regardless of weight. He's 61-2-2 with 39 knockouts heading into his Sept. 14 super middleweight title defense at T-Mobile Arena against Edgar Berlanga. He's won world championships at super welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight. He's 20-2-1 with nine KOs over opponents who held a world title at some point in their careers.

He's arguably the greatest fighter in Mexican history, though that's up for debate, and he's a no-doubt first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Fighting Edgar Berlanga, a 27-year-old whose reputation far exceeds his accomplishments, is little more than another payday for Alvarez, however. Berlanga has next-to-no-shot to defeat Alvarez, who could likely pick the round in which he could win the fight, if he so chose.

Alvarez is -1600 to win, meaning he has an implied winning percentage of 94.12 percent. Sadly, that's a common figure for main event bouts in boxing these days. And let's be honest: It's a disgrace to ask fans to pay $90 for such a main event. Alvarez is -270 to win by knockout while Berlanga, who is reputed to be a knockout puncher, is +1800 to win by knockout. That means he has a 5.26 percent chance to win by knockout.

The Alvarez-Berlanga fight is little more than an exhibition, which brings me to Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather, now 47 years old, will box John Gotti III on Saturday in an exhibition bout in Mexico City. He's expected to earn several million for his troubles.

Mayweather was criticized in the second half of his career for dodging certain opponents or, more frequently, for the timing of when he fought some guys. But in his 50-0 career, he's beaten seven men who have already been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (Diego Corrales, Arturo Gatti, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto). Two of his victims, Alvarez and Manny Pacquiao, will join that list on the first day they become eligible. And there remains at least a shot that Genaro Hernandez gets in.

If Hernandez makes it, that'd mean 10 of 50, a full 20 percent of Mayweather's opponents, were inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, a remarkable figure.

Mayweather took a gimmee in his final pro fight when he boxed MMA superstar Conor McGregor on Aug. 26, 2017, in his 50th bout. After is when he started the string of exhibition bouts he's periodically done over the last few years.

It costs a lot of money to start that private jet he tours the world in and these exhibitions give him some additional cash to fund his lavish lifestyle.

I have next-to-no interest in seeing him fight Gotti (for a second time, no less!) but it's not harming anything. Those who wanted to see him in person but couldn't during his career but couldn't afford it have the opportunity to see him again. There are a few real fights on the card. 

I don't really care for Mayweather-Gotti II, but then I don't care for Alvarez-Berlanga. And not only is Alvarez-Berlanga for a world title, which beyond a shadow of a doubt diminishes the belts since Berlanga is such an undeserving challenger, but they have the gall to ask for $89.99 to purchase it!

Are you kidding me? Alvarez is simply robbing the people who have supported him in his illustrious career.

The boxing world would be buzzing with anticipation if Alvarez were going to defend against David Benavidez or Terence Crawford on Sept. 14. It's instead a yawner of a fight that we can predict with nearly absolute certainty what will happen.

Alvarez has a great chin, and Berlanga's earlier run of first-round KOs -- He won his first 16 pro bouts by first-round KO -- conned many into believing Berlanga was some kind of 168-pound clone of Mike Tyson. He is not, though. Alvarez has been in with some murderous punchers, notably spending 36 rounds in the ring with Gennadiy Golovkin, and not only wasn't he dropped, he was never wobbled.

How is Berlanga supposed to win this fight?

He can't, and that's the sad part of this.

Alvarez's reputation was built in his early career on his willingness to seek out challenges he didn't have to take. He fought Mayweather when he was 23 and everyone and his brother told him he was too young and inexperienced. He took bouts with Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara, champions with tricky styles who were in their primes then when there was no call for those bouts. Alvarez challenged himself repeatedly.

That's why he's so highly regarded by fans and media. And I'll tell you this: He could lose every fight he takes from this point forward and I'll still vote for him as soon as his name appears on the ballot for the Hall of Fame.

Turki Alalshikh, boxing's current flavor of the month who has been funding a lot of mega-fights in the last year or so, got into it publicly with Alvarez. Now, I'm taking no sides in that battle. Alvarez felt Alalshikh was trying to dictate to him how to run his career, and Alvarez earned the right long ago to determine his own destiny.

Still, Alalshikh's comments were telling.

"And I know how he feels after losing to [Dmitry] Bivol, so he's been looking for easier fights ever since," Alalshikh wrote on X. "Also, I'm not the one who's afraid of fighting Benavidez or Crawford. Therefore, I knew he was wasting our time and making excuses with big amounts of money that can't be paid. So I'm continuing my way to make big fights that serve the boxing world, and he's on his way to making easy show-only fights."

I would never ever say Alvarez or any other professional boxer is afraid. They risk their lives every time they step into that ring, and it takes an enormous amount of courage to do so. He is not afraid of any man.

Now, has he chosen basically to go on cruise control during the backstretch of his legendary career, perhaps? It sure seems that way.

Hopefully, he'll look at what Mayweather did and save his remaining exhibitions until the real fights are over and done with.