(Photo Credit: Alma Montiel – World Boxing Council & Eztel Espinoza – Golden Boy Promotions) By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s next opponent for May 7 is expected to be determined within the next two weeks and announced to the boxing public. Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions reportedly have the fighter they’re interested in challenging Canelo in his first defense of his WBC middleweight title.
The opponent will need to agree to the catch-weight of 155lbs, according to ESPN Deportes, as that’s the weight that Canelo will continue to be fighting at. Canelo’s trainer Eddy Reynoso says they will stay at 155, because that’s a weight they like.
It was hoped that after Canelo won the WBC middleweight title against Miguel Cotto last November that he would start fighting at the full weight for the 160lb division rather than staying with his 155lb catch-weight handicaps, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Additionally, if Gennady Golovkin doesn’t agree to the 155lb catch-weight for a fight against Canelo in September of this year, then it doesn’t look like he’ll be getting the fight.
“We’re not going to move now from 155 pounds. We are quite comfortable at that weight and it suits us. We are not inventing a new division., It’s just part of business and everyone seeks what suits them. Who wants to fight with Saul, come down or go up,” Reynoso said.
This might not be an issue for Canelo’s next opponent if he faces a junior middleweight, because they would likely be more than happy to fight with an extra pound to play with. However, if Canelo faces a middleweight, then it’s going to be a much different story because they’ll need to boil down another five pounds to make the 155lb catch-weight limit to fight Canelo.
Golden Boy is being quiet about the potential opponents for Canelo’s fight on May 7 on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo. The names have been leaked thus far to the media are Gabriel Rosado [one of Golden Boy’s fighters], Willie Monroe Jr. and Liam Smith. Those are pretty bad choices, given that Canelo’s next fight is expected to be on HBO PPV. It would be similar to Canelo’s fights against Erislandy Lara and Alfredo Angulo, which were both on HBO PPV. Those fights brought in around 300,000 PPV buys.
A rematch against Miguel Cotto is also a possibility for Canelo, but not likely. Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach said recently that he would like a rehydration limit for a rematch, because he wants to make sure Canelo doesn’t rehydrate too high up in weight. Roach feels that Canelo looked to be in his mid-180s for his fight against Cotto last November. Canelo weighed in at 155lbs for the fight. If Canelo did rehydrate to 185, then it means he put on 30 pounds of weight after rehydrating. That’s a lot of weight.
At some point, Canelo will not be able to keep making the 155lb catch-weight limit that he’s fighting at.
You have to wonder whether Canelo will start adjusting catch-weights by moving slowly to 157, 158 and 159 and requiring that his opponents agree to each weight in order to fight him. This is all speculation of course. It’s always possible that Canelo will eventually tire of the catch-weight handicaps he’s been using and fight at the full weight for the 160lb division. But it’s also possible that Canelo could use catch-weights his entire career, and continue to use them once he can no longer make the middleweight limit. In that case, we’d be seeking Canelo potentially at 161, 162, 163, and so forth with catch-weights. Canelo would be a nightmare for super middleweights wanting to fight him.
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