A Fighter's Chance

ROSE FROM POVERTY AND AMASSED A $275 MILLION FORTUNE AS ONE OF THE BEST POUND-FOR-POUND BOXERS IN THE WORLD.

- BRETT KNIGHT

CANELO ÁLVAREZ

AS HE BUILDS HIS BUSINESS EMPIREA PATCHWORK COLLECTION OF  MEXICAN GAS STATIONS, CONVENIENCE STORES, A BUS COMPANY AND A COCKTAIL BRAND-THE 33-YEAR-OLD CHAMPION IS ONCE AGAIN PUNCHING ABOVE HIS WEIGHT IN PURSUIT OF BECOMING A BILLIONAIRE.

At his ranch on the southwestern outskirts of Guadalajara, Mexico, Saúl Álvarez, the country's most famous boxer, settles into a leather chair next to a zebra-skin rug.

Behind him is a floor-to-ceiling window offering a view of a dirt paddock where he can ride his 30-odd horses, stabled next to a towering horse sculpture and the peacocks that greet visitors through the property’s front gate. The back entrance is plenty impressive as well, with a Mercedes-AMG G 65 waiting to whisk him away to a nearby golf course—through a colossal metal door straight out of Jurassic Park—as members of his staff zip in and out in cars emblazoned with the nickname by which he is universally known: Canelo.