By Dan Ambrose: Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach says he’d like to match his fighter Manny Pacquiao up against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) at a catch-weight of 152 pounds if the Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr fight doesn’t take place on May 2nd.
Canelo is already signed to fight James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) in a fight that is scheduled for 5/2 at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas, USA. The only way the Canelo-Pacquiao fight could take place instead is if they could cancel the fight with Kirkland somehow.
“Canelo is a thought at 152,” Roach said via Thaboxingvoice. “I think that’s a great fight.”
The red-headed Canelo fought Mayweather at a catch-weight of 152lbs in their fight in September of 2013, and Canelo looked almost ill in getting down to the weight. He did not look good at the weigh-in for that fight, and it must have been a real battle to get those last two pounds off.
With Canelo rehydrating into the mid-170s after he makes weight, it would seem very unlikely that he’s going to be able to dehydrate down to 152. We’re talking about a light heavyweight here with Canelo who is melting down to fight in the middleweight division to fight a welterweight. I don’t know that Canelo will ever agree to fight at 152 after the bad experience he had against Mayweather.
With the huge money that Canelo could get for a Pacquiao fight, it’s possible that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum might be able to persuade Canelo to agree to fight Pacquiao at 152. If they give Canelo a good enough purse split for the fight to get made, he might agree to it. But negotiating with Canelo could prove to be every bit as tough as negotiating with Mayweather, because Canelo will likely want close to a 50-50 purse split with Pacquiao.
That’s not going to fly obviously. Canelo hasn’t achieved the same things that Pacquiao has with his career, and he’s not proven himself to be a big pay-per-view attraction when he was the A-side in his fights.
If Canelo gets stubborn and asks for a 50-50 or even a 55-45 deal with Pacquiao, I can see the negotiations reaching the same impasse that Canelo’s negotiations reached with his failed fight with Miguel Cotto.
Arum can’t just sit and wait around indefinitely for Canelo to change his mind about asking for a large purse split, so I think the negotiations would likely fail quickly with Arum and Pacquiao going in different direction.
Comments are closed.