De La Hoya: I am convinced Canelo will beat Mayweather

By Boxing News - 07/03/2013 - Comments

Canelo autographing(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions finally came off the fence in the Floyd Mayeather Jr. – Saul “Canelo” Alvarez press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday by predicting that the 22-year-old Canelo will beat Mayweather on September 14th in their fight on pay per view from Las Vegas, Nevada.

De La Hoya said “I am convinced Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will win on September 14th.”

This announcement was met with a lot of cheers from Canelo’s fans, and naturally a lot of boos from Mayweather’s fans. Mayweather Jr. smiled at this time and did a few shoulder rolls as if blocking shots from Canelo. Mayweather’s adviser Leonard Ellerbe also seemed amused by it.

I can’t say I’m surprised that De La Hoya is coming out with his prediction that Canelo will win, because he’s been all over Canelo in the last few weeks, saying things like “Canelo is on his way to becoming great,” and by saying that Mayweather is showing insecurity by asking for a 2 pound catch-weight at 152 instead of fighting Canelo at the full 154 lb. weight for the division. De La Hoya has been saying that he’s neutral about who he wants to win, but it sure sounded a lot like he was pulling for Canelo to get the win. Now De La Hoya has finally came out and said that’s who he thinks will win.

It would obviously help De La Hoya and Golden Boy if Canelo were to beat Mayweather because it would validate Canelo as a fighter and create the perception in the minds of many that he’s the next super star in boxing. Fans wouldn’t see that Canelo is a fighter that is barely making 154 and came into his last fight weighing 172, and is being matched against a lot of welterweights instead of guys from his own division.

Like I said, Canelo barely making 154, and arguably should be fighting at middleweight against the likes of WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin instead of against welterweights. Canelo out-weighed Golovkin, a middleweight, in his last fight. Golovkin came into his fight against Matthew Macklin at 170; whereas Canelo fought Trout at 172.

Needless to say, having a big weight advantage is very helpful when you’re fighting guys from a division or two below you. It’s even more pronounced when you’re barely making the division you’re fighting in, and then are getting matched up against fighters a division below that as in the welterweight division with Mayweather, Matthew Hatton, Josesito Lopez…etc.

We saw how good Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was in fighting guys a lot lighter than him in many of his bouts at middleweight. He was like a truck in running down his lighter opponents. He struggled as well to make weight. Now it looks like Canelo is doing the same thing, but he’s facing a lot of pumped up welterweights.



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