Tuesday, November 02, 2021

Canelo Álvarez, boxer

Canelo Álvarez is fighting Caleb Plant this weekend, and the winner will become the first boxer to unify the Super-Middleweight division. (I weighed 13 stone this morning so - for all that I have lost my COVID lockdown weight gain - I will still need to lose a whole stone to make the Super Middleweight 168lb limit.)

Now that I am 100% Irish myself, I have started to ponder Canelo's red hair.

Canelo in Spanish is the masculine word for cinnamon, which is a common nickname for people with red hair. His mother, Ana Maria, also has red hair. In Mexico, it is common for people to associate red hair with the Irish soldiers who fought for Mexico in the Saint Patrick's Battalion during the Mexican–American War. That's it. Next time I watch The Alamo, I am supporting  General Santa Anna and his army.

Alvarez is on the list of Notable Irish Mexicans on this Wikipedia page.  Even better, Álvaro Obregón was president of Mexico during 1920–1924 and his surname Obregón is a Mexican version of O'Brien! My cup runneth over.

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