"It'll go his way" - Teddy Atlas gives bold prediction for Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo

Teddy Atlas believes Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo is going to be close, and maybe controversial.

This Saturday night, the Mexican superstar is slated to return to the ring. Fresh off an unanimous decision win over John Ryder in May, he will face light-middleweight champion Jermell Charlo. 'Iron Man' is coming off a win over Brian Castano a year ago.

While a dominant champion in his own right, he will enter this weekend's matchup as a massive underdog. It makes sense, considering that Charlo is heading up not one, but two weight classes. That being said, Teddy Atlas believes the fight will be competitive.

The longtime coach and analyst previewed Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo on a recent edition of The Fight. There, Atlas stated that there's a good possibility that the Mexican star will win by stoppage. However, he's not sure it'll go down like that.

Instead, Atlas believes that Charlo will hold his own against Alvarez, and the fight might even have a controversial result. The coach boldly stated:

"I think it’ll wind up going to the scorecards. Canelo is a pretty good puncher, could he catch him and knock him out? Yeah, that’s always a possibility. But that aside, I’m going to say it’ll be a tight fight that goes the distance. It could maybe be a fight where Canelo needs his “friends.” Anyone who says he doesn’t have friends in this business, you’re naive. If he needs that protection, he’ll probably get it in a close fight. It’ll go his way."

See his comments below (1:40:00)

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Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo: Has the superstar had a controversial win?

As Teddy Atlas hinted, Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo could be controversial.

The coach and analyst stated the Mexican boxer has his "friends" in the industry. While Atlas didn't outright say it, he was hinting at Alvarez's history of getting the nod at times whenever he really didn't need to.

For example, his 2017 fight with Gennadiy Golovkin, as well as his 2013 clash with Austin Trout were very controversial. Many fans also believed that 'GGG' deserved the nod over Alvarez in their rematch the following year, which the Mexican boxer won.

Lastly, Canelo Alvarez's 2013 fight with Floyd Mayweather is also controversial. Despite being easily defeated by 'Money', one judge scored the fight a draw. That was just one example of many, where the boxer got a bit of favoritism from the judges.