By Patrick McHugh: It looks like Willie Monroe Jr. (21-2, 6 KOs) is out of the equation for Saul “Canelo’ Alvarez’s next fight in December, according to his trainer Eddie Reynoso. He doesn’t appear to fancy the fighting style of the 29-year-old former world title challenger Monroe Jr., who defeated #10 WBO Gabriel Rosado (23-10, 13 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night to capture the vacant World Boxing Organization Inter-Continental middleweight title.
It was believed that the winner of the Rosado vs. Monroe fight had a chance to fight Canelo in December, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen judging by Reynoso’s comments. Perhaps Monroe was someone that was never really considered for the fight in the first place against Canelo.
You have to wonder whether Rosado was the one that Canelo’s team and Golden Boy wanted all along. After all, a fight between Canelo and Rosado would have been a big Mexico vs. Puerto Rico type of rivalry, and they might have been able to sell the fight from that angle, despite it being a likely mismatch in favor of Canelo. If that was the idea, then Golden Boy should have made sure that they matched Rosado against a weaker opponent than Monroe, because this was always going to be a very tough fight for a limited fighter like Rosado.
Monroe gave Gennady Golovkin some problems for a few rounds in their fight last year before getting stopped in the 6th. In contrast, Rosado did little more than run from Golovkin before getting stopped in the 7th round in their fight in 2013.
“Canelo is not going to fight with Monroe. It’s better for us to fight Erislandy Lara,” said Reynoso to ESPN.com.mx.
It’s unclear if Reynoso has any say so when it comes to selecting the opponents for Canelo. If he does, then it sure doesn’t look like Canelo will be fighting Monroe any time soon. Monroe isn’t a runner. If you look at his last three fights against Rosado, John Thompson and Golovkin, the southpaw Monroe mostly stood his ground and looked to counter punch and pick off his opponents with Mayweather-like pot shots.
I could see how that wouldn’t be a good style for Canelo to fight against, because he was made to look bad by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their fight in 2013. Mayweather won the fight by throwing single pot shots, and a lot of frequent jabs. Mayweather didn’t even really move that much in the fight He was stationary until the 9th round. Canelo nailed Mayweather with a big right hand in the 9th. From that point on, Mayweather got on his bike and moved around the ring to elude Canelo.
Monroe beat Rosado by the scores of 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112. After the fight, Monroe spoke having “earned” a fight against Canelo. It might have been a good idea for Golden Boy to have pulled him aside to break the news to him gently about him not likely being the next one for Canelo’s fight in December.
From Golden Boy’s standpoint, it doesn’t make much sense for them to match Canelo against Monroe. He’s not ranked high at #14 by the WBO, he doesn’t have a world title in his possession, and he was recently knocked out by Golovkin. It would be better for Canelo to fight someone like unbeaten WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) for his title next December, or the popular Canadian David Lemieux. Those are fights that would attract some interest from boxing fans in the United States. Neither of those guys would generate a ton of interest against Canelo, but you can argue they would attract more interest than a fight between Canelo and Monroe would.
It appears that Golden Boy doesn’t put Canelo in with risky opponents any longer after his loss to Mayweather and his controversial win over Erislandy Lara. For that reason, we’re not seeing Canelo matched against guys like Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, the Charlo brothers, Demetrius Andrade, Julian Williams and Lara. When you see Canelo being matched against James Kirkland, Alfredo Angulo, Miguel Cotto and Liam Smith, it seems pretty obvious that he’s getting matched carefully. That’s why you can’t rule out someone like Monroe Jr. getting his turn against Canelo in the future, because he’s a guy that he has a high chance of beating. No one is saying that Monroe is as good as Golovkin, Jacobs, the Charlo brothers, Lara, Williams an Austin Trout. He’s just a beatable guy that is being promoted by the same promoters as Canelo is by Golden Boy.
Canelo is going to run out of beatable options soon, and then I think Monroe will get his chance as long as he’s still winning by that point.
The boxing world wants to see Canelo fight Golovkin. That’s the fight that will sell, but it’s unclear whether Golden Boy is willing to make that fight unless they can guarantee that Canelo gets the lion’s share of the loot for the fight. De La Hoya said earlier this year that he would start negotiations with Golovkin at 90-10 in favor of Canelo. De La Hoya may not have been joking. The money may end up keeping the fight from being made until Golovkin is older and no longer unbeaten. At that point, Golovkin will likely take whatever he can get for the fight against Canelo. I’d be surprised if it’s even 90-10 by that point.