By Dan Ambrose: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) fight this Saturday night, and Canelo may or may not be fighting Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in September if he wins the fight. Whether Canelo fights Golovkin or not is still undecided. The only thing we do know is Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya is saying that the Canelo-Golovkin fight will happen if it can be negotiated.
Chavez Jr. seemed to enjoy taunting Canelo him not fighting Golovkin during HBO’s Face Off with Max Kellerman. Chavez Jr. kept pointing out that Canelo has been ducking GGG, and the only reason he picked him out for their fight this Saturday night was because he feels that it’s easier facing him than Triple G. Surprisingly, Canelo had very little to say when Chavez Jr. put him on the spot about not fighting Golovkin. Canelo seemed tongue-tied, and it was disappointing to see, because you would figure that he would have prepared himself for this ahead of time to have a reasonable response.
“You no can fight Triple G. You fight me because you think it’s easier than Triple G,” said Chavez Jr. to Canelo.
The only thing that Canelo could come back with to respond to Chavez Jr’s comment about him picking him instead of GGG was, “I made the fight [with Chavez Jr.]. You can criticize me all you want.”
Chavez Jr. also took enjoyment in asking Canelo if he thought he was the real middleweight champion at this time. As most knowledgeable boxing fans know, Canelo vacated his WBC middleweight title last year to avoid fighting Golovkin after the WBC ordered Canelo to fight him. Surprisingly, Ring Magazine still has Canelo as their middleweight champion at this time despite Golovkin holding 3 of the 4 titles in the division and Canelo having none.
“You think you’re the real middleweight champion?” said Chavez Jr. to Canelo. You beat Miguel Cotto. Miguel Cotto is a middleweight champion?
Canelo: “He was the champion. We fought for,” said Canelo about Cotto in their catch-weight fight in November 2015 for Cotto’s WBC middleweight title.
Chavez Jr: “He beat [Sergio] Martinez. You think Martinez was a good fighter at that time,” said Chavez Jr. about the injured Sergio Martinez, who Cotto beat in 2015 to win the WBC middleweight belt. Martinez’s right knee wasn’t 100 percent following surgery after he injured it against Chavez Jr. in 2012.
Canelo: “What about Martinez?”
Chavez Jr: “Martinez is done after my fight. It’s Martinez. Move on.”
Canelo didn’t have much to say at all about Golovkin and why he’s not fought him. One got the sense that it wasn’t subject that Canelo wanted to speak on. Canelo could only repeat that he’d fought the best in boxing, which you can only argue is partially true. Canelo has fought a few a good fighters during his career, but most of the fighters that he’s fought have been mediocre fighters. Some of the good names that Canelo has on his resume like Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley were old by the time he fought them. They weren’t in their prime.
Canelo did a lot of interrupting of Chavez Jr. during the Face Off with Max Kellerman special. Chavez Jr. was patient and listened to Canelo when it was his turn to answer Kellerman’s questions. But when it came to Chavez Jr’s turn, Canelo was interrupting him the entire time, preventing him from answering the questions. Kellerman didn’t do a good job of controlling this, and it soon ruined the whole show because the two fighters got bogged down in minor stuff. Kellerman lost control and seemed to hand over the special to Canelo. Kellerman might as well not have been there at all, because he wasn’t a good monitor.
Chavez Jr: “The people criticize him because he fought Amir Khan, when Triple G was there [at the WBC mandatory challenger to Canelo.]. He takes other opponents and don’t take the risks. He puts the weight 164.5, because he thinks I’ll sacrifice to make the weight.”
Canelo: “We all have to sacrifice something. In boxing, we all have to sacrifice something. When I used to fight smaller boxer, he is talking about, I sacrificed myself to be at that weight. I also gained that weight, just as I have gained weight for this. I did the sacrifice when I fought Floyd Mayweather. He set a weight and made me dehydrate myself. I did it because he was the best. He was the best at the moment and I wanted to be the best. I sacrificed money. I sacrificed my body. I sacrificed many things, but that’s the way it is. Now I am on this side, and that’s how boxing is and we all know it. To do this fight, I did it the way it was supposed to be done. I gained 10.5 pounds. I adapted myself to the new weight, because it’s also a risk for me. It’s a new weight for me. To do this fight, it could only be done this way. I wasn’t going to gain 168 pounds, for never gaining the weight. I fight with some of the best, and whomever, I have sacrificed myself with the best. That’s how it’s been and that’s the way it is. I am here to fight with anyone, with anyone.”
Canelo had nothing to lose in fighting Mayweather, because it was such a big payday. It didn’t matter if he lost that fight because there would be no fallout for Canelo. With Mayweather considered the best fighter in boxing, Canelo couldn’t help but to win even if he lost the fight, which he did. But Canelo hasn’t fought the best other than Mayweather and Erislandy Lara at 154. Those are the only good fighters that Canelo has fought at junior middleweight. Canelo’s fight with Miguel Cotto took place at middleweight, where he was considered a paper champion by a lot of boxing fans Golovkin was and still is considered the middleweight champion.
Canelo hasn’t fought him. Canelo’s win over Lara was controversial. Canelo never gave Lara a rematch. Canelo also never fought the Charlo brothers, Julian Williams or Demetrius Andrade. The truth of the matter is, Canelo has been selectively matched during his career by his promoters at Golden Boy. When he has fought true best, he’s lost or he should have lost. He still hasn’t fought Golovkin and there’s a lot of doubt that he may never do so.
Chavez Jr: “I think he took the risk because the people demand those type of fights like Triple G. People criticize him because he don’t fight [Triple G.”
Canelo: “Just that one.”
Chavez Jr: “Sometimes you take the belt and get an option fight, because the organizations want to setup the rules and place their percentages.”
Canelo: “I don’t have to take the orders from an organization.”
Chavez Jr: “Yeah, today is more business with boxing. I understand that.”
Canelo: “I’ve fought the best today. The best.”
Canelo hasn’t fought the best in boxing. He’s fought some good fighters like Austin Trout, Lara, Mayweather and Cotto, but he hasn’t fought the best at 154 and 160. Mayweather was the WBC junior middleweight champion at the time he fought Canelo in 2013, but Mayweather only had to fight Cotto to win the WBC 154lb title. Mayweather didn’t have to fight a banger like Jermall Charlo. You can argue that Mayweather was not a true champion at 154. He was just a guy that beat a former welterweight in Cotto instead of the dangerous and much bigger fighters at 154 like Jermall Charlo. Mayweather would have a lot of problems with Charlo’s speed and size, and I don’t think he would have beaten him. Mayweather barely beat Marcos Maidana. We’re still waiting for Canelo to fight Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and Jermall Charlo. I don’t think those fighters are going to happen soon.
Canelo: “It doesn’t matter,” said Canelo in defending his decision to fight Mayweather instead of the top contenders at 154. “He wanted the fight. He is the best. everybody wanted to fight him. That’s how boxing is. When you want to be the best, you want to go against the best. He was at my weight. Everybody wanted to fight him.”
Chavez Jr: “It’s not my opinion. You can ask the boxing fans. They criticize you when you don’t fight in your division.”
When asked by Kellerman if he respects Chavez Jr., Canelo said this:
“I can’t respect him, because for me, personally, he hasn’t done anything. He has shamed the country with what he’s done with his career, which he hasn’t done correctly. He has done many things that have placed in doubt the sport of boxing. So I can’t respect an athlete like him. I can’t do it, and that’s the truth.”
Chavez Jr: “Me too. You know the fight with Amir Khan. You think it was a good fight?”
You can argue that Canelo is no better than Chavez Jr. with what he’s done with his career. Canelo has been lucky that he was small enough to melt down to 154 and fight a lot of welterweights, and then use his size advantage to beat them. Golden Boy has done a better job of controlling the career of Canelo to get him big fights against aging stars like Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto, both of which were so much smaller than him. Golden Boy also set Canelo up with a fight against Mayweather. Chavez Jr. didn’t have the same great match-making with his career, and he didn’t train hard when he needed to for his biggest fight of his career against Sergio Martinez.
Chavez Jr. let his foot off the gas after that loss, and did nothing with his career in the last 5 years. He wasn’t ambitious like Canelo. But if you look at who Canelo has faced since 2014, he hasn’t been fighting the best since his controversial win over Lara in 2014. Canelo hasn’t fought the Charlo brothers, Golovkin, Jacobs, Andrade or Julian Williams. Canelo has been fighting beatable guys like Amir Khan, Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland, Cotto and Liam Smith. If a motivated Chavez Jr. had been fed the same opponents as Canelo has in the last 3 years, I think you easily see him winning all of those fights too. Golden Boy has done a great job of matching Canelo, but they haven’t put him in with the best, and that’s very obvious.