By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) recently weighed in at 166.8 lbs. for his mandatory 30-day weigh-in for his September 14th fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s).
The talk previous to this weigh-in was how Canelo came into training camp weighing only 165 lbs., and how we was going to be faster for the Mayweather fight than he was for his last bout against Austin Trout. Canelo weighed 172 lbs. for that fight in April, and looked like a light heavyweight fighting in the junior middleweight division.
Canelo’s 30-day weigh-in showed a fighter that looked totally ripped to the point where I got the impression that he had to drain down to get to 166.8 lbs. The max allowable limit for the 30-day weigh-in was 169 lbs., and Canelo looked like he’d drained down from a higher weight to make the 169.
With Canelo weighing more for this 30-day weigh-in than he did in the 30-day weigh-in for the Trout fight in which Canelo rehydrated to 172 lbs. after losing water weight to get down to 153 lbs., I think I think it’s going to be really hard on Canelo’s body to get down to the 152 lb. catch-weight for this fight.
If Canelo does make the weight, I think it’s going to weaken him for the fight in a big way. It may be only 2 pounds difference between the normal 154 that fighters have to make in order to fight at junior middleweight, but Canelo isn’t an average junior middleweight. He’s a guy that’s coming down from light heavyweight in terms of size by losing water weight to fight against smaller guys in the welterweight division. Mayweather Jr. is a welterweight, not a junior middleweight.
Losing all that water weight could hurt Canelo’s body. When you dehydrate like this, it puts a tremdous strain on your liver and kidneys, and it’s not healthy for anyone to do that kind of thing even for a short period of time. But then immediately to turn around after making weight and put the weight back on in 24 hours to fight a talented guy like Mayweather, Canelo could be asking for trouble. Mayweather Jr. doesn’t have to a think to get down to 152 lbs., because he’s already made the weight at 150.3 lbs.
All he has to do is not gorge in the next month, which he never does, and he’ll be in top shape for the fight. But I don’t know about Canelo. If he weighs more now than he did last time he fought, Canelo could be coming down from 170+ to make the fight weight of 152. If it’s 172 lbs. again, we’re talking 20 lbs. of water weight that Canelo will have to lose to make the weight.
I know Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is good at dehydrating to make weight, but not everyone can do that. A lot of fighters are negatively effected when they have to take off 15-20+ pounds, and I think Canelo might be one of them when he steps foot in the ring on September 14th. Mayweather Jr. might not even need beat him, because the light heavyweight sized Canelo could end up beating himself by being too heavy for the 152 lb. catch-weight.
I think Canelo would be better off moving up to 160 or better yet to 168 lbs. after the Mayweather Jr. fight. Canelo wouldn’t have to drain down so much to make weight, and he can fight guys his own size at middleweight and super middleweight. I think it would be easier on his body not to have to lose all that water weight to fight smaller guys.
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