Tapatio Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the city’s most famous ever pugilist, cut the ribbon this week at a new center to develop Jalisco’s next generation of boxers.

The Canelo Alvarez Academy is located inside the Unidad Deportiva Revolución, to one side of Colomos Park.  It will cater to around 60 promising young boxing talents and open officially at the beginning of August.

“It’s an honor to have the academy named for me,” Alvarez said. “The kids will remind me of myself and how I started in the sport. It fills me with satisfaction because I know that with desire and sacrifice, the kids can achieve things in boxing if they want.”

Alvarez was one of eight children born to a modest farming family from Juanacatlan, outside Guadalajara. He gets his nickname “Canelo” from the word for cinnamon, common for people with red hair.