Canelo: When my body is ready, I will fight everyone

By Boxing News - 08/30/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) is continuing his theme of him not being afraid of any man – including Gennady “GGG” Golovkin – and that he’ll eventually take on all the top fighters in the middleweight division when his body grows into the weight. In a bizarre move, Canelo is draining down in weight to fight WBO junior middleweight champion Liam “Beefy” Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) on September 17 on HBO pay-per-view.

The move down in weight has a lot of boxing fans wondering if Canelo did this in order to escape criticism for choosing not to fight Golovkin. By going back down to 154, Canelo can tell fans, ‘See, I’m not a true middleweight so I shouldn’t be expected to fight Golovkin.’ The problem with that is the fact that Canelo won’t be able to keep putting his body through so much hardship to get down to 154 over and over again.

“As for the future, I’ll let others do the talking, but I have always said that I fear no man, and when I feel my body is ready, I will take on anyone and everyone in the division that I am fighting,” said Canelo.

It’ll be surprising if Canelo even makes weight for the Smith fight. I think Canelo will most likely find some way to get down to 154lbs to make weight, but I don’t see it being easy for him at all. If Canelo is really rehydrating into the 180s like the rumors say about him, then getting down to 154 is going to be an ordeal. Canelo hasn’t been weighed by HBO for his last two fights before he steps into the ring.

It’s unclear why HBO stopped listing his weight. Whether Canelo is turning them down when they request for him to weigh-in is unknown. When you see Canelo not being weighed in the night of his fights, it leaves boxing fans wondering how heavy he is. If Canelo is weighing in over 180+ pounds on the night of his fights, then his argument about his body not being ready for a fight against the 170lb Golovkin wouldn’t hold water.

It’s going to be interesting to see how long Canelo chooses to wait before he feels his body is big enough to fight Golovkin and the real talented fighters in the 160lb division. Right now, Golden Boy is planning on having Canelo fight one of their fringe middleweight contenders Willie Monroe Jr. or Gabriel Rosado in December. These aren’t the talented middleweights. They’re the lower level guys with knockout losses to Golovkin. Rosado has lost a bunch of times in the last four years. Putting Canelo in with one of them is a step down from his fight against Liam Smith.

Golovkin comes into his fights at around 170lbs even. If Canelo is now weighing in the 180s, then that means he’s already 10-15 pounds heavier than GGG. By Canelo saying his body isn’t ready to fight Golovkin, it makes you wonder if he wants to wait until he’s weighing in the 190s to fight Golovkin. That’s an insane amount to be rehydrating to for a fight a middleweight, but I imagine there have been a number of boxers that have rehydrated 30 pounds before to gain an edge against their opponents. It’s just got to be very tough to dehydrate that amount of weight on a consistent basis without risking one’s health in doing so.

“For right now, I have only one goal, and that is to be in best physical and mental shape of my life to come in Sept. 17 and perform at the best of my ability for my fans,” said Canelo about his fight against Liam Smith.

If Canelo beats Smith on September 17, he’ll be moving up to middleweight to fight in December against either Billy Joe Saunders or the winner of Willie Monroe Jr. vs. Gabriel Rosado. It’ll be up to Golden Boy Promotions to decide which direction they want to go in for Canelo’s next fight. It’s quite possible that a catch-weight might be used for the fight. If Canelo is STILL talking about making the move to middleweight when his body is ready, it suggests that he doesn’t feel he’s ready just now. That means we might see Canelo back at his favorite catch-weight of 155lbs in December.