By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) has been dropped completely by the World Boxing Council’s ratings. The WBC came out with their new ratings for June, and the 25-year-old Canelo is nowhere to be seen among the top 15 contenders ranked by the sanctioning body.
It’s not surprising though, because Canelo recently vacated his WBC 160lb title when given a deadline by the WBC to complete the negotiations for a fight against his #1 WBC mandatory challenger Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions issued a statement saying they weren’t going to negotiate under a deadline by the WBC. However, after Canelo dropped his WBC title, the fight with Golovkin still wasn’t negotiated.
Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffer has been sitting and waiting for the negotiations with Canelo and Golden Boy to restart, but thus far there’s no indication of when or if they ever will.
According to Fight News, the WBC made an effort to reach Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) to see what division Canelo will be campaigning in, but they didn’t get a response. Without GBP letting the WBC know which division Canelo will be fighting, it’s impossible to know because he’s talked in the past about not being a real middleweight. In Canelo’s last fight, he fought welterweight Amir Khan.
Here are the WBC’s rankings for middleweight for June:
1 .- Jorge Sebastian Heiland (Argentina)
2 .- Chris Eubank Jr. (GB) BBB C
3 .- David Lemieux (Canada)
4 .- Ryota Murata (Japan)
5 .- Ievgen Khytrov (Ukraine) NABF
6 .- Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (Cameroon)
7 .- Avtandil Khurtsidze (Ukraine)
8 .- Curtis Stevens (US) AMERICA
9 .- Andy Lee (Ireland)
10 .- Peter Quillin (US)
11 .- Daniel Geale (Australia)
12 .- Hugo Centeno (US)
13 .- Dmitry Chudinov (Russia)
14 .- Dominic Wade (US)
15 .- Michel Soro (France)
This is the WBC’s rankings for junior middleweight for June:
1 .- Demetrius Andrade (US)
2 .- Charles Hatley (US) SILVER
3 .- Vanes Martirosyan (Armenia)
4 .- Cedric Vitu (France) EBU
5 .- Ishe Smith (US)
6 .- Jorge Cota (Mexico)
7 .- Erickson Lubin (US)
8 .- John Jackson (Virgin Islands)
9 .- Austin Trout (US)
10 .- Oscar Molina (US/Mexico)
11 .- Sergey Rabchenko (Belarussia)
12 .- Daquan Arnett (US)
13 .- Ramon Alvarez (Mexico) NABF
14 .- Isaac Real (Spain) LATINO
15 .- Terrell Gausha (US)
It would be nice if Canelo and Golden Boy start up negotiations for a fight against Golovkin right away, but it remains to be seen whether that will in fact happen. Canelo has a lot of easy options available to him for fights, and HBO will likely agree to televise his fights no matter who he chooses. WBO light middleweight champion Liam Smith is one name that was mentioned recently by Golden Boy executive Eric Gomez as a potential option for Canelo. Gomez says besides Golovkin, Golden Boy is looking at potentially matching Canelo against the following fighters for his next fight: Shawn Porter, Miguel Cotto, Liam Smith, Floyd Mayweather Jr., BJ Saunders, and Daniel Jacobs.
It would be a real disappointment to some boxing fans if Canelo turns around and faces another welterweight in his next fight instead of fighting Golovkin. Fans wouldn’t mind seeing Canelo fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. a second time but that’s not a fight that has a high chance of taking place, even though it would be a very good option for Mayweather if he went that route.
“Golovkin, BJ Saunders, Liam Smith, Shawn Porter, Cotto, Danny Jacobs, Mayweather all are being considered,” said Gomez to ringtv.com about who is on the list for Canelo’s next fight.
Canelo recently finished his lawsuit this week with his former promoter at All-Star Boxing, so that’s not something that is holding him back from fighting any longer. There’s nothing blocking Canelo from fighting Golovkin right now if he wants to fight him. I think the fans just want to see Canelo fighting again just to see him in the ring. They probably will give him a pass if he fights another welterweight or if he chooses Liam Smith, a guy that is arguably the weakest of the current 154lb champions.
Canelo can certainly continue to perch himself in between the middleweight and junior middleweight divisions at 155 for his catch-weight fights, but he’s going to need to start fighting better opposition if he wants to be seen as a credible fighter. Canelo can’t drag welterweights up in weight forever, and he’s not going to go far by fighting Liam Smith. That’s a one and done type of fight. If Canelo insists on fighting 154lb fighters, then the boxing fans are going to want to see him fight the Charlo brothers or Demtrius Andrade. I don’t think Canelo can beat those guys. If Canelo is going to fight welterweights, then they’ll want him to fight Kell Brook and Keith Thurman. I think there’s a very good chance that Canelo loses to those fighters too. Canelo cannot pick out just the vulnerable welterweights to fight instead of the good ones.