By Chris Williams: WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) was asked what he would do if he were to get a fight against Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao. Instead of ruling the fight out completely, Canelo says he would reveal his plans for the fight when the fight happened.
Canelo didn’t rule out the fight, which was kind of unusual because it suggests that he’s willing to take the fight if it was offered to him. Canelo did offer that he would have several plans for the Pacquiao fight. He wouldn’t just come into the fight with one plan.
“We’ll talk about that when we get there when that fight happens,” said Canelo to esnewsreporting. “When you fight in a big fight against a guy like him, you have a plan A, B and C.”
For a fight between Pacquiao and Canelo to work, it would require that Canelo come down in weight to at least 150lbs. I couldn’t see Pacquiao agreeing to fight Canelo at 155, the weight that Canelo has been fighting at since 2014. Fighting Canelo at 155 wouldn’t the major issue for someone like Pacquiao.
The major issue would be all the weight that Canelo would put on after he rehydrated. If Pacquiao rehydrates to the low 150s for the fight, he would be dwarfed by Canelo if he rehydrated to 174. Canelo would probably have a weight advantage of 20 to 25 pounds over Canelo. As heavy as Canelo would be for the fight, I don’t think he would need a Plan-B or C. The Plan-A would likely be more than enough for Canelo to literally crush Pacquiao with his big weight advantage.
I think it would be a bad career move for Canelo to go from fighting welterweight Amir Khan on May 7 to then fighting another welterweight in Pacquiao. Fighting welterweights repeatedly might give Canelo a bully type of reputation with the boxing public. That’s not a rep that Canelo needs right now, especially with him seemingly reluctant to fight at the full weight for the middleweight division despite him having the size to fight at the full weight.
There was talk of Canelo and Pacquiao fighting in the past. However, Canelo said he wouldn’t fight at a catch-weight. He would fight at the full weight for the junior middleweight division.
Now is the time for Canelo to fight someone like Pacquiao. Canelo can still make 154 if he needs to for a big enough fight. Canelo should take whatever fights he can against popular fighters from the 147lb division while he still can. I still think it would be a bad move for Canelo as far as his rep.
If he’s going to be fighting welterweights all the time, then fans might see him as someone that is afraid to fight guys his own size. Canelo could quiet the critics if he fought Gennady Golovkin or Daniel Jacobs at the full weight for the middleweight division. Canelo wouldn’t even have to fight Golovkin to quiet the critics. If he merely fought Jacobs at 160., that would be enough for him to shut down the fans who doubt his courage.
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