By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says that his fighters Adrien Broner and WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez are seen by boxing fans as the fighters to take over for Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the top fighters in the sport.
It’s difficult to picture Canelo, who just finishing winning a questionable 12 round decision over Austin Trout last April, as one of the fighters to take over Mayweather’s throne when he leaves the sport because a young Mayweather was so dominant and Canelo was anything but dominant against Trout.
I don’t expect Golden Boy to ever put Canelo back in with Trout, so there won’t be any more close calls in fights against him, but still there wasn’t the kind of talent from Canelo in that fight that would suggest that he’s the guy that can take over when Mayweather retires.
As for Adrien Broner, he didn’t look so great in beating Gavin Rees last February, and he’s got a couple of controversial wins on his resume over Daniel Ponce De Leon and Fernando Quintero. Broner is still pretty much the same fighter that beat those guys by controversial decisions, and it just looks like it’s only a matter of time before someone beats Broner unless Schaefer and Golden Boy carefully match him for the next 10 years, keeping him away from tough opponents like Keith Thurman, Lucas Matthysse and Marcos Maidana or whoever else emerges in the next 10 years or so.
Schaefer said to bleacherreport “Broner and Canelo are now considered heirs apparent to the Mayweather throne. Canelo Alvarez and Adrien Broner both have the ability outside the ring to connect with the public.”
It’s unclear what Schaefer believes, but if he too thinks that Canelo and Broner are the future he might want to downsize his dreams about these fighters because they are not the fighters to replace Mayweather unless he skillfully matches them to keep them away from really tough opponents. I like the way Golden Boy has Canelo fighting at 154 against welterweights who fight at 147.
That’s ingenious because it virtually gives Canelo a size advantage each time he fights. Canelo is barely making the weight for the junior middleweight division, and yet he’s fighting welterweights. I’m not sure how much longer he’ll be able to do this, but sooner or later he’s going to have to move up to 160 to fight guys at his own weight. The magic question is will Canelo still be fighting welterweights or will be suddenly be fighting junior middleweights while fighting in the middleweight division.
If Schaefer is only talking about popularity without the same kinds of skills and talent that Mayweather brought to the table, then I think it’s possible for him to make a huge star out of Canelo if he keeps matching him against the right types of fighters. But if they match him up against a fighter his own size and weight like Gennady Golovkin, I see Canelo losing that fight. I think he would get knocked out by Golovkin, and I also see Daniel Geale beating him as well. I just don’t think Schaefer will ever match Canelo against those guys, even after he moves up to middleweight.
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