By Dan Ambrose: In a sign that we could be seeing a heavy Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) on the night of his fight against WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs), Canelo weighed in at 167.8lbs for his World Boxing Council mandated 30-day weigh-in for his 155lb catch-weight fight next month on 11/21.
The maximum allowable limit was 176lbs, which could see Canelo eclipse on the night of the fight at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cotto was the one who wanted the catch-weight at 155, but Canelo had no problems with it because he’s had his last three fights at the 155lb catch-weight.
The 167.8lbs puts Canelo 12.8lbs above the 155lb catch-weight for the fight. It’s unknown how much weight Canelo had to lose to get down to 167.8. You can assume that Canelo weighed in after a strenuous workout where he lost a ton of water weight.
Canelo is expected to be the much heavier fighter of the two when he meets Cotto on November 21st on HBO PPV. Cotto rehydrates to around 160lbs for his fights at middleweight. Canelo will need to do some weight deduction for him to lose the 12.8lbs that he needs to in order to get to 155.
Since Canelo likely drained down to get to the 167.8 for the 30-day weigh-in it’s going to be tougher than you might expect for him to get to the 155lb limit. Before the two fighters started training camp, Canelo looked like a big puffy looking 185lb fighter. He looked bigger than I’d ever seen him look before.
I’m not sure how much of that was from fat or how much of it being natural muscle. Whatever the case, Canelo looks to be getting bigger as he gets older, and I don’t know how much longer he’s going to be able to keep making hi special 155lb weight class that’s camped on.
As Rosado said, we’re going to have to create a special 157lb weight division for Canelo. But if he keeps getting bigger, I don’t think even the 160lb division will work for him. Canelo will have to either move up to super middleweight or camp out at a catch-weight in the low 160s, which would make him a super middleweight just as his catch-weights of 155lbs makes him a middleweight now.
I believe that the weight could be a key for Canelo if he’s able to use his huge weight advantage, but it’ll have to be early in the fight because I don’t see Canelo having much energy left in the championship rounds. Taking all that water weight off to get down from the 170s to 155 is going to be an ordeal for Canelo, and then putting it back on within 24 hours of the fight will be tough on him as well. Canelo has been able to get away with this because he’s young, but you can only go to the well so many times when you drain down in weight. Eventually catches up to you and you either don’t make weight or you wind up weakened in the fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see both of those things happen on November 21st. It’s unclear what the weight penalty is for coming in over the 155lb limit, but my guess is it’s going to cost a lot of Canelo or Cotto come in over the limit.
Canelo has already done 128 pounds of sparring for the fight, according to ESPN Desportes.
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