The myth of El Canelo

Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez is an anomaly in the Matrix. Coming from humble origins, he dropped out of school at 15 to pursue boxing. Today, at 34, he has amassed an estimated fortune of $275 million.

However, the story that is told about the boxer – and that is told to us – feeds a myth that is no longer sustainable in our time.

That myth is hidden in the words of El Canelo in an interview with Forbes:

“I didn't go to school. So I'm proud to be able to show other people, other children, my children, that you can do anything, even if you have nothing.”

In the 1980s, the idea that individual effort was enough to achieve anything you set your mind to was a promise that was rarely questioned.

Today, it's unsustainable and a hoax. Accepting it without a critical eye is a mistake. There's a vast academic literature that debunks this myth.

We've heard about poverty all our lives, but there's a more comprehensive term: inequality. Within this, there's another concept we should all be familiar with: social mobility.

It refers to the possibility of having a better life than our parents and grandparents had. In other words, better income derived from a better education and more opportunities.

Official data is scarce, but academia, national and international organizations such as the Espinosa Yglesias Study Center and Oxfam Mexico have mapped the phenomenon.

In Mexico, 7 out of 10 people born into poverty will never escape it no matter how hard they try. Factors you don't choose, such as your place of birth, your gender, or your parents' educational level and income, determine your socioeconomic destiny.

The social structure and the unequal distribution of wealth condemn you.

The top 1% of families in Mexico, known as the ultra-rich, own 22.3% of the wealth, according to the report "Income and Wealth Distribution in Mexico and Selected Countries."

The fortunes of Mexico's four largest billionaires—Carlos Slim, Germán Larrea, Alberto Bailleres, and Ricardo Salinas Pliego—saw their fortunes grow from 2% of the country's GDP in 2002 to 9% in 2014.

The State is the only one that can regulate the immoderate accumulation of wealth and inequality for greater social mobility. Because the market, as we see, tends to concentrate it in a few hands.

Now, what are the chances that, like El Canelo, an average person in Mexico will rise from the bottom of the pyramid to the top?

The Espinosa Yglesias Study Center estimates that the chance is less than 3%. El Canelo is a hyper-visible exception, and believing it's the rule renders invisible millions—the majority—who will never escape the poverty their parents and grandparents endured, no matter how hard they try.

Yes, the story of El Canelo is the exception that proves the rule and that wise advice: to be rich, you have to be born rich.