Koncz: Pacquiao cannot fight Canelo without a catch-weight

By Boxing News - 05/29/2014 - Comments

pac454By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz says that there’s no way that a fight can take place between Pacquiao and the popular Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez unless Pacquiao can get a catch-weight for the fight to take place at. Koncz believes that without a catch-weight handicap for Pacquiao, it would be too dangerous for him to fight a guy as big as Canelo.

Koncz said to the Philboxing “It will be a substitute for a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr, and will be the next biggest fight and may very well rival a Manny-Floyd fight. [It’s] a fight we’ll probably do next year. We cannot go into the ring if there is no catch-weight. It’s too dangerous. We are not trying to get any advantage but just trying to protect the health of Manny.”

Koncz fails to mention how dangerous it would be for Canelo to have to drain down and potentially be in a weakened state to fight Pacquiao. He doesn’t mention how fighters that drop weight to accommodate smaller fighters often take vicious beatings.

Since They’re talking about a catch-weight that could possibly harm Canelo, then he’s going to need to think very long about whether it’s worth it for him to risk his health in coming into the right too weak to fight. I’m sure Pacquiao, Koncz and Bob Arum can make it worthwhile for Canelo to take the fight if they give him the bigger purse at 55-45 or 60-40.

That might work, because if he agrees to fight at a catch-weight of 150, Canelo could end up like Oscar De La Hoya when he drained down to fight Pacquiao at 147 despite the fact that De La Hoya hadn’t fought at 147 in years. De La Hoya ended up too weight drained to fight and Pacquiao ended up giving him a beating. We’ll never know if Pacquiao could have beaten De La Hoya if he hadn’t drained down to accommodate his weight requirements.

Canelo isn’t even making 154 anymore, so for them to ask him to drain down to a possible 150, like Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is talking about, might be impossible for Canelo to do. You’d hate to see Canelo agree to the catch-weight and likely agree to a huge weight penalty for coming in over the limit. Canelo could end up losing a significant portion of his purse simply by agreeing to the catch-weight and the likely weight penalty that will come with it.



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