By Dan Ambrose: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) will be fighting his third consecutive fight at middleweight this Saturday night, on May 9th, against James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) at the Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.
While Canelo says he can still make the 154 pound division to continue to fight in the junior middleweight division, it’s hard to ignore that he’s had his last two fights against middleweight and will be facing Kirkland, 31, at middleweight as well. Granted, the three fights are at catch-weights of 155 pounds, but that is technically middleweight, not junior middleweight.
Why Canelo needs to fight at 155 is something only he knows. Perhaps the strain of getting down to 154 is too much for Canelo. If he’s having problems just getting down to 155, then it would make sense why he would want repeated catch-weight fights at middleweight.
Canelo rehydrated to the mid-170s once he makes weight, and that’s obviously very heavy for someone to get down to junior middleweight at 154. Being able to rehydrate to the mid-170s in fights against junior middleweights gives Canelo a huge advantage over his opponents. He’s like the junior middleweight division’s version of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., a fighter who did really well when he was able to melt down from the 180s to fight in the 160 pound division. But once Chavez Jr. could no longer make weight for the middleweight division, he hasn’t looked like the same fighter.
The question is will Canelo still be an effective fighter once he officially moves up to the middleweight division? Being bigger than his junior middleweight opposition obviously is a huge advantage for the 24-year-old Canelo, but will he still be able to do well when he officially moves up to middleweight and starts facing guys who also rehydrate to the 170s like him? For instance, the WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin rehydrates to the mid-170s just like Canelo does. The difference is Golovkin fights at middleweight, not junior middleweight like Canelo. Golovkin doesn’t have to dehydrate nearly as much as Canelo does when he makes weight for his fights in the 160 pound division. If Canelo suddenly has to face guys his own weight like Golovkin, will he struggle or will he continue to do well?
This Saturday night Canelo will be fighting at middleweight in a catch-weight of 155 pounds against junior middleweight James Kirkland on HBO Championship Boxing. Canelo, if he wins, will then fighting WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto later this year in what will be Canelo’s fourth straight fight at middleweight. At this point it seems like Canelo should just stay at middleweight instead of creating a new division called the 155 pound division.
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