Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is well on his way to joining the select club of legendary Mexican boxers. After 51 fights his record stands at 49 victories, with one draw and only a split decision loss four years ago. Now the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, who has reigned supreme as WBC, Ring Magazine and Lineal Middleweight Champion prepares for his most important opponent, and what boxing purists call the ‘real’ biggest boxing match of the year. This Saturday Alvarez takes on Gennady Golovkin for total Supremacy. As a preview of the match we bring you our earlier exclusive interview when Alvarez when he announced his partnership with Hennessy, the world’s best-selling Cognac.

In an exclusive conversation, we spoke with the champion about his career, future plans, and this trailblazing relationship that solidifies his place among the greats, along with the notion of “Never stop. Never settle.”

This collaboration makes evident the synergies between Hennessy and Alvarez: Both have a shared passion for pushing the limits of potential and both recognize the importance of community and family in building a successful and enduring legacy.

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Alvarez grew up as the youngest of eight children, seven of them boys and all professional boxers and together, they push each other to their fullest potential. He earned the nickname ‘Canelo’ because of his red hair, and started boxing after watching his older brother debut as a professional boxer.
After turning pro, he went on to hold the WBA (Unified), WBC, and Ring Light Middleweight titles between 2011 and 2013, and the WBC and Lineal Middleweight titles between 2015 and 2017.

Alvarez has captivated fans both in Mexico and around the globe with his action-packed fighting style, charisma and willingness to take on the toughest challenges. As of May 2017, he was ranked as the world’s best boxer, pound-for-pound, by BoxRec; and also ranked as the world’s best Light Middleweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and BoxRec. Alvarez next fight is scheduled for September 16th at the T-Mobile Arena where he faces GGG in a pay-per-view title bout.

HOMBRE: This must be exciting, what does this partnership with Hennessy mean to you?
Canelo Alvarez: It’s very important for me. We work well together so I’m very happy with the brand and feel pleased to know that they wanted to work with me.

H: What do you think your involvement with Hennessy means to the Latino community?
CA: It’s an honor to be able to represent my people with opportunities like this partnership with Hennessy. It’s important. It’s a well-known international brand, so I feel happy and proud to be working with them and it makes me want to be better.

H: This partnership will involve your trainer and your family, what was it like to have them be a part of this journey?
CA:  I feel happy about it and they feel even happier to get to see themselves (laughs).

H: What were some of your favorite moments about filming this project?
CA: In general, I have enjoyed all of it. They filmed me in my world: training, jumping rope, basically what I do daily.

H: Now let’s go way back, who were some of the boxers you looked up to as a kid?
CA: To be honest, I didn’t begin the sport because I was looking up to someone else or because I watched boxing. I began because my brother started boxing when I was 10 or 11 years old. When I saw him debut as a professional, it caught my interest. I wanted to be a boxer after that. I basically started because of him. Since then, I started following Gilberto Roman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, Julio Cesar Chavez, all those fighters…Muhammad Ali…I looked to them to learn and started like that. Not because I had an idol.

H: How is it to be a part of the Golden Boy family?
CA: I feel happy about it because we’ve worked in harmony with each other and are doing things the right way. They do their thing. We do ours. We’ve become a great team. And I’m overjoyed about the goals we’ve laid out and accomplished.

H: What was the best advice Oscar De La Hoya has given you?
CA: He always tries to give me advice and he is always there if I need him. He knows that we do our job very well. The only thing he’s really advised me about is to take care of myself and to continue to do things the right way.

H: You have a huge fight coming up May 6th, how are you preparing for it?
CA: I’m preparing as I always do. I’m especially preparing for my rival. You have to take risks and I feel good about it. I’m training thoroughly and I am feeling good about it. I feel ready.

H: What would you say is your key to success?
CA: Discipline and the passion to do what I do.

H: And finally, what does the Hennessy mantra of ‘Never stop. Never settle.’ mean to you?
CA: It’s real. Settling is not an option and neither is stopping. So it’s a key mantra for what I do. You can’t settle. You can’t stop. Ever.