Canelo: I’ll probably stay at 154 my whole career

By Boxing News - 07/02/2014 - Comments

Canelo Open Workout(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) made a startling confession on Tuesday in a media workout from the House of Boxing Training Center when he revealed that he plans on staying in the 154 pound division his entire career rather than moving up to middleweight so that he can fight guys that are close to being the same weight as him. I guess this means that Canelo has an excuse for not fighting Gennady Golovkin if someone asks about that fight.

Canelo has been rehydrating to the 170s for his fights recently, which puts him in the light heavyweight weight class when he steps inside the ring in the 154 pound division. In his last fight, Canelo rehydrated to 175 against Alfredo Angulo, and in his fight against Austin Trout, he weighed 172. This is why it seems hard to fathom why Canelo is resistant to fighting guys that are closer to his own weight.

For example, WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin rehydrates to around 170 when he fights, and he’s a middleweight. For Canelo to be rehydrating to more than what Golovkin weighs while fighting in the 154 pound division, it makes you wonder why he’s not interested in fighting at middleweight.

Canelo said “I have no intentions of moving up to middleweight. I feel really comfortable fighting at 154 pounds and probably will stay in this weight class my whole career.”

Canelo says he feels comfortable at 154, yet his last fight was at a catch-weight of 155, and his fight against Erislandy Lara will also be at 155 when the two of them face each other at on July 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. 155 falls within the middleweight weight class. For Canelo to be saying he easily makes weight at 154 doesn’t make sense if he’s not fighting at that weight. It’s like someone saying they could easily go on a diet while stuffing their mouth with M&Ms; you can only believe what you’re seeing and not what you’re hearing from that person. If Canelo really can make 154, then why isn’t he fighting at that weight, and why is he rehydrating up into the 170s?

It doesn’t make sense for the 23-year-old Canelo to project what weight he’ll be able to fight his entire career at this point, because he’s still just a young fighter. Even if he wants to stay at 154, his body will likely force him to move up in weight whether he likes or not once he gets to the point where he’s having to lose 30 pounds of water weight to make weight.

Losing 20 pounds of water weight isn’t good for your body obviously, but when a fighter gets to the point where they’re shedding 30 pounds, it gets potentially dangerous for them. As Canelo gets older, he’s likely to put on more weight to where he’s walking about in the 180s and 190s, and shedding 30-40 pounds of water weight to make the 154 pound division is going to lead to Canelo fighting poorly unless he’s matched very carefully by Golden Boy Promotions against Alfredo Angulo types instead of the best fighters like Demetrius Andrade and Erislandy Lara.



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