RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - It was two decades ago this year that a red-haired 15-year-old known affectionately around the gym as Canelito paced around the locker room backstage at the Arena Chololo Larios.

It had been fewer than five years since his older brother Rigoberto invited the family along to watch his first professional fight, sparking a love in the 11-year-old Saul which would ultimately consume his entire life. Now, on October 29, 2005 it was the kid’s turn to fight for money.

“I thought maybe I’d make my professional debut when I was 17 or 18,” Canelo tells The Ring. “But then I learned so fast.”

Instead Chepo Reynoso and his son Eddy, so impressed by what they saw from the youngster inside their Julian Magdaleno gym, made the decision to turn him over early.

“I still remember them telling me: ‘you better prepare yourself because in one month you’re going to be a professional,” Canelo recalls. “I was just so excited to do it that night and I still enjoy it as much as I did on that first day.”

Nobody knew that night would kick off a career the like of which can not be matched by anyone still operating in the sport today. And, although some may argue that the likes of Oleksandr Usyk, Naoya Inoue or Terence Crawford have displaced him from his long-held position as the pound-for-pound king, no current world champion at any weight can match his longevity.

Closest are Ring Magazine No.1 Crawford, the undefeated WBA super-lightweight champion and Erislandy Lara, who currently holds the WBA title at 160lbs. But by the time they both made their professional debuts in 2008, Canelito was already three years deep. He has had 66 fights to date across the last 20 years, with a version of a world title on the line in 26 of those.

Even so, there is still new ground to break and on Saturday he will fight for the very first time outside of north America as he faces IBF champion William Scull in an undisputed super-middleweight clash at the ANB Arena here in Riyadh.

Today Canelo, wearing a trademark silk two-piece and dark glasses, meets The Ring at the fight hotel in the centre of the city. And, although a fight in a different continent is a new experience for him, the 35-year-old operates with the aura of a man who has seen it all before.

He is reminded that October will bring with it that 20-year milestone and before the question is finished he has already pointed out the exact date.

“Yes… October 29,” he says. “But it really feels like it was yesterday.

“I remember exactly being in that locker room that night, waiting to go and step into the ring for the first time as a professional. It has been a good 20 years since then.

“I wasn’t nervous, just very excited because that’s all I wanted. Because I grew up in Eddy and Chapo’s gym, everyone there was professional fighters so I remember saying ‘that’s what I want to be’. That was the night it happened.

“I remember I got paid $40 but actually they paid me half of that in tickets and I have a big family. I got the other $20 to keep but I can’t remember what I spent it on.

“But you know I never did it for money and I think that has made me who I am and brought me to where I am today - because I never just did boxing for the money. I do it because I really enjoy it.”

As it turned out, Canelo has evolved into one of the highest paid athletes in the history of sport as a result of his success. Widely considered the face of boxing worldwide, it was no surprise that Turki Alalshikh, the head of Riyadh Season and chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, made his move, eventually agreeing a four-fight deal with Canelo, the first of which takes place on Saturday.

“I dreamed of being a champion,” Canelo adds. “But what you can never imagine is the magnitude of all this.

“I always dreamed of winning titles and said ‘I want to be a champion one day’ because I grew up in the gym with Chololo Larios and Chatito Jauregui. Chololo was a world champion and I saw how they trained a world champion so I thought ‘OK, that’s what I need to do’.

“Then I started to realise that there’s more things needed to be a champion, a lot of things to do and hurdles along the way. But when you do something you love, everything will come along. I never imagined this magnitude.”

It was clear to the Reynosos that they had something special on their hands. Just like Rigoberto had done in February, 2000, Alvarez won that debut inside the distance and by the time Chepo upgraded him from Canelito to Canelo when he turned 18 in 2008, the teenager had racked up 21 professional fights, with 20 wins and a draw. His first world title would follow a little over two years later, aged just 20, when he beat Matthew Hatton for the vacant WBC 154lb title in March 2011. If that feels like a lifetime ago in boxing, it’s because it is.

“Honestly I never thought about being a boxer when I was a kid but I fell in love with boxing when I saw Rigoberto box that night,” he says.

“Nobody in the house knew at the time that he was training to be a fighter so when I saw him fighting I fell in love with boxing. Of course it’s a business right now so everything comes together in that but when you do something you love and you put everything into it, the money will come along eventually. Right now I don’t want for anything and I still enjoy boxing.”

Canelo has made no secret of his plans to exit the sport by the time he is ‘37 or 38’, so as that finishing line approaches, is he worried about trying to fill such a void in his life?

“I’m going to miss boxing but I’m not worried about walking away,” he replies quickly. “I will miss boxing a lot because I enjoy it a lot. I really love boxing.

“But I will keep my mind focused on my business instead, trying to accomplish other things in business. I‘ve always said that between 35 and 38 I’d retire. It’s not difficult to process because I’m still enjoying everything I’m doing now. But you know when you’re true with yourself it’s not hard. I’ve accomplished everything in boxing. I don’t need to stay much longer in boxing.

“For what? For money? But when will it be enough? It will never be enough, right? That’s why you have to be true with yourself. I think I’ve accomplished everything in boxing so in my heart I need to be true to myself that I’ve said it will be around 37 or 38, that’s it. I have all the rest of my life to do other things, other business and enjoy your life. That’s what I think and I feel good about that.”

As it happens, the Alvarez dynasty might not actually finish with him given his six-year-old son Saul Adiel is now an aspiring boxer too. Television cameras in the dressing room ahead of Canelo’s victory over Jermell Charlo in September 2023 captured footage of father and son shadow boxing together and it did not stop there.

“He is training three times a week now,” Canelo says with a broad smile. “He wants to be a fighter. I say to him ‘ok, you want to be a fighter now but we will see when you feel the first punch.’ He hasn’t felt that yet but we will see how he is once he’s felt that first punch.”

Given he has fought so hard to secure his family’s future for generations to come, how does he feel about his son potentially putting himself in harm’s way?

“Who am I to say no?” He says. “If he wants to be a fighter, why not? It’s his life not mine. I’ll just be there for him, to support him in whatever he wants to do. I’ll be there to support whatever he chooses.”

Finally, attention turns back to the other youngster in this story - 15-year-old Canelito that night in Tonala, Guadalajara. The 35-year-old is asked if he could be transported back to that dressing room, what advice would he have for his younger self.

“That’s simple,” he says. “Just keep going.

“Keep going and keep dreaming big because it will all come. Like Chepo and Eddy said to me - ‘you’re going to be whatever you want’. I’d tell him it’s your choice.”