Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez confident that trainers know ways to defeat Miguel Cotto

There’s a sentiment around the gym of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez that he’s like a great fastball pitcher.

In most cases, the reasoning goes, that power pitch – which is his power punching – usually decides fights against opponents who want to make things more complicated with technical boxing.

That thinking has made Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 knockouts) a more than 3/1 betting favorite to win the World Boxing Council middleweight belt from champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 knockouts) in their Nov. 21 bout at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Yet, considering Alvarez’s only loss is to master boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., and that he escaped with a July 2014 split-decision victory over Cuba’s complex Erislandy Lara, it’s safe to assume Cotto is focused on sharpened boxing.

The champion, who’ll turn 35 on Thursday, has more than 300 rounds as a pro in his mental bank. Beyond defining himself with punishing body punches, Cotto is deemed “ahead of schedule” in training by his respected cornerman Freddie Roach.

“We started early, he was peaking too soon,” Roach told The Times on Friday. “He’s doing well. We have a good game plan. To win this fight, we have to be smarter than Canelo is. We’ll break him down and knock him down in the late rounds.”

Part of Roach’s confidence stems from his own matchup, against the father-son tandem of Chepo and Eddy Reynoso, who continue to corner Alvarez more than 10 years after they joined him in his pro debut.

A Cotto victory would magnify the attention on the Reynosos’ work.

“Freddie Roach has a great resume and career … but trainers only do so much … about 10% compared to what the fighter does. I’m not intimidated at all,” Eddy Reynoso told The Times through a Spanish interpreter in an interview while supervising Alvarez’s training in a San Diego gym on Thursday.

“We’ve fought and beat Freddie Roach before. He’s a good trainer, but … his name and popularity have grown and he’s been lucky that fighters who have been made champions have chosen him to be a trainer. If he was such a great trainer, he would’ve rebuilt fighters like Amir Khan, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Brian Viloria to become world champions.”

Yet, Reynoso and his father also have to answer questions about their ability to prepare and guide their popular 25-year-old fighter from Mexico through a battle expected to take some sophisticated turns.

In the 2013 loss to Mayweather, Alvarez was left frustrated through the early rounds and the remainder was a formality.

Reynoso rates Cotto as a lesser boxer than Lara, but he praised the Puerto Rican’s ferocity.

“We’re getting to the power and the speed. We’re developing the speed. We keep telling [Alvarez], ‘Faster, faster, faster,’ ” said Eddy Reynoso, 38, who has seized more day-to-day leadership as his father has backed out of in-ring training due to a lower leg injury suffered in an accident a few years ago.

“We need to be very intelligent. We’ll use everything to win. We’re developing through the mistakes now. … After every fight, he gets better. His punches are more crisp and sharp, his defense is better. He’s in a better position throwing punches. We are here to win.”

As for the pressure he feels to direct victory, the younger Reynoso said there’s none.

“From the time we started, we’ve been a great team,” Eddy Reynoso said. “We’re very happy, very good, very comfortable. This is just another level to pass now. The foundation has been built and has taken us step by step to this next obstacle.”

Reynoso’s an intense study of boxing lessons taught by trainers in books and magazines that date to the 1920s. He also reviews current fights for the newest training wrinkles.

“I read every day. When you love what you’re doing, it’s not work, so I study all of it,” Reynoso said. “And Canelo loves the sport like I do.”

Alvarez said maximizing the Reynosos’ attention to head and waist movement were lessons he was taught young, recalling how he thought of mastering the techniques through the time he fell asleep and dreamed as a boy.

“I combined my own style [of natural power] with their technique to become who I am now,” Alvarez said while training. “I want to practice every day – whatever they teach me. When I come into the sparring session, it’s not to show that I’m the boss, faster and stronger. My mission is to learn. Every move you’ll see from me in the ring has been practiced.

“I’ll explode the night I fight Cotto … power, speed, head movement, combinations.”

Alvarez assessed his training at this camp as allowing him to perform at his most impressive level yet. HBO will televise the fight on pay-per-view.

“I feel very comfortable with [the Reynosos]. I trust them. They trust me. We’re a family,” Alvarez said. “They know what I can do inside the ring and I know I can trust them … for the best knowledge, the best decisions to be successful.”