By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) reportedly is saying that he plans on going ahead and taking both of the Mexican holiday dates in 2015 in May and September on HBO pay-per-view. He plans on taking both of those dates.
That means that if Canelo does take the dates, he’s going to be competing with WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr’s own PPV fight on Showtime. Canelo does seem to care, as he plans on taking the dates anyway.
“I want those dates. I don’t care who fights, those are important to the Mexican people,” Canelo said as quoted by Steve Kim. “I want to make history in my career.”
Canelo’s next fight is said to be against Joshua Clottey, the 36-year-old fighter who many boxing fans thought was retired long ago. Clottey isn’t retired, but he’s just not fighting all that often and his fights aren’t being televised by Showtime and HBO. Canelo is clearly kidding himself if he thinks he’s going to make history by facing the likes of Clottey.
It takes talented opposition to make history, and you have to beat your opponents without controversy. We’ve seen Canelo beat Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara by controversy, so it’s hard to say that Canelo is or will make history with his career. Right now, Canelo is more of a Fernando Vargas type fighter rather than a guy that made history like Oscar De La Hoya.
“Canelo Alvarez gave me my marching orders and that is fighting in May of next year and September of next year so, as his promoter, I have to do whatever I can to make that happen for him,” De La Hoya said via Dan Rafael of ESPN.com.
Competing with Mayweather for both of his fight dates next year means that neither of Canelo’s fights next year are going to bring in the kind of PPV money that they would have if there was no one competing with him.
There’s no way that boxing fans in large numbers will be able to purchase two PPV cards on different networks on the same night. Some fans will do it, but definitely not a lot because the cost of purchasing two cards on one night could be as much as $140.
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