Roach: Canelo vs. Smith will be competitive

By Boxing News - 08/08/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Liam Smith could prove to be a more difficult obstacle than many boxing fans expect him to be when he defends his WBO junior middleweight title next month against Golden Boy Promotion’s flagship fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) on September 17 on HBO pay-per-view from AT&T Arena in Arlington, Texas.

The unbeaten Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) is seen as an easy mark for the 26-year-old Canelo in the eyes of a lot of fans, many of which who have already written him off without having even seen him fight before. One person who has seen the 27-year-old Smith fight in the past is trainer Freddie Roach, who sees him as a very tough fight for Canelo.

Roach feels this fight is going to be a lot more competitive than the match between IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Kell Brook, which will be taking place a week earlier on September 10 at the O2 Arena in London, UK.

Golovkin and Canelo are supposed to meet with each other next year in the fall of 2017. It’s very important for the two of them to keep winning their fights until they meet each other a year from now in a big money PPV fight on HBO. The money to be made from their fight in 2017 will likely be huge.

“Smith is not a bad fighter. He’s a very tough guy,” said Roach to Fighthub.com about Liam Smith. “This is not an easy fight for anybody in the world. Liam Smith will come to fight. He may not be the best one of the Smith brothers, but he’s a world champion and he’s a very solid opponent. There’s no quit in him. That’s a great fight,” said Roach.

Smith is an excellent body puncher and is seen one of the best in the 154lb division in that department. He’s capable of fighting on the inside or outside depending on the situation. It’s unknown if Smith will be able to hang on the inside against a fighter like Canelo or not. It will depend on how much Canelo rehydrates for the fight.

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If Canelo comes into the fight weighing in the 180s, then it might be tough on Smith because he rehydrates into the 160s. If Canelo has a 20 pound weight advantage over Smith in this fight, then that might make it necessary for Smith to use an in and out attacking style rather than standing in close and taking the 180+ pound Canelo’s big power shots.

It’s hard to tell really. Canelo absorbed the big shots well from Miguel Cotto in their fight last November when Cotto was throwing to the head. However, it might be a different story if Smith aims his punches to the midsection of Canelo.

It doesn’t matter how heavy you are, if you get hit with hard body shots, you’re going to feel them in the same way you would if you weighed the same amount as your opponent. If Smith is able to stay near enough to Canelo to and to the body for a number of times, then we could see an upset in this fight. That won’t be easy though because Canelo will be using his big weight advantage to land his big power shots to the head and body of Smith.

When asked if the Canelo vs. Smith fight will be a more competitive one than the Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook fight, Roach said, “Yes.”

Smith has looked unbeatable in his last five fights in beating Predrag Radosevic, Jimmy Kelly, John Thompson, David Ezequiel Romero and Robert Talerk. One thing that Smith has going against him in the Canelo fight is his lack of big fight experience. The guys that Smith has fought are nowhere near as good as many of the fighters that Canelo has fought. Here are the best guys that Canelo has faced in his career.

1. Floyd Mayweather Jr

2. Erislandy Lara

3. Miguel Cotto

4. Austin Trout

5. James Kirkand

6. Matthew Hatton

7. Kermit Cintron

8. Alfredo Angulo

9. Jose Miguel Cotto

10. Amir Khan

11. Shane Mosley

12. Josesito Lopez

13. Ryan Rhodes

14. Lovemore N’Dou

15. Carlos Baldomir

16. Lanardo Tyner

Liam Smith would have an excellent chance of beating most of those guys that Canelo has fought. The only ones that would be problems would be Mayweather, Trout, Lara, and Cotto. Canelo lost to Mayweather and arguably lost to Lara. Canelo’s fight with Trout looked more like a draw than a real win.