By Dan Ambrose: Not accustomed to having to grit it out and do a lot of waiting during the negotiation process, the red-haired former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) has reportedly asked his promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions to start looking for another opponent for him to fight on Cinco de Mayo on May 2nd.
Canelo has been waiting for world from WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) whether he’ll agree to the contract negotiations in order to face him in this mini-mega fight on HBO, but Cotto’s people have said that the negotiations aren’t complete.
So instead of Canelo sticking it out and looking to complete the negotiations, he’s given De La Hoya his marching orders to find another guy for the 24-year-old Canelo to fight.
De La Hoya must have had someone small and weak-punching in mind because he contacted Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who mentioned that welterweight Tim Bradley (31-1-1, 12 KOs) is a possibility. Bradley would have to move up in weight from 147 to fight Canelo at 154 or possibly at a catch-weight of 155 if Canelo chooses not to make the weight again.
“Oscar just called me and formed me that ‘Canelo’ told him to seek another opponent,” Arum said via deportes.Univision.com. “I do not know what will happen. Just wait a little and then find another rival. Maybe Tim Bradley,” Arum said.
The obvious question is why isn’t Canelo telling De La Hoya to get him WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin? He’s got an easy fight next month on February 21st against Martin Murray, and Golovkin should be able to get Murray out of there in two or three rounds. Golovkin then would be ready to fight Canelo on May 2nd, or whenever he wants to take the fight. Golovkin and Canelo both weigh the same amount after they rehydrate, so there’s no excuse about Golovkin being too heavy or too big for Canelo.
There’s something off putting about Canelo getting matched up against yet another welterweight instead of someone from his own weight class. As a junior middleweight, Canelo has already fought welterweights like Josesito Lopez, Alfonso Gomez, Shane Mosley, Lovemore N’dou, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Matthew Hatton. That’s six welterweights that Canelo has faced while fighting in the junior middleweight division. Why does he have to fight yet another guy dragged up from the 147 pound division? Shouldn’t Canelo start fighting guys his own size in the middleweight division like Golovkin?
Bradley is coming off of a terrible performance against Diego Chaves in his last fight December. The fight was scored a draw, but Bradley fought well enough to deserve a close win. But was really disappointing is how poor Bradley looked in that fight. He ran out of gas in the last four rounds, and let Chaves take over the fight with his aggressiveness.
Golden Boy just signed David Lemieux. Why doesn’t De La Hoya match Lemieux up against Canelo? It won’t take Lemieux months to get in shape because the guy is always in good condition.
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