By Allan Fox: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) reiterated that he’s still not a real middleweight, and that a fight a fight against IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) can happen at some point in the future when he feels he’s ready to fight 160lb fighters.
Canelo’s fight against WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) on November 21st will likely be a one off thing for Canelo rather than him sticking it out in the middleweight class if he beats Cotto. Canelo doesn’t appear to be ready to hold onto the WBC title and defend it against Golovkin.
“The fight was agreed at 155 because neither of us [Canelo and Cotto] are middleweights,” Canelo said to Fighthype. “He has the middleweight title, and he wants it to be for the title but at 155 pounds. Well, I think giving advantages in the sport, I’ve learned not to give them. The day I’m ready to give 160lbs, I’ll fight with the best fighters there…If down the line it happens, I’m ready for whoever. Gennady is a great fighter, but everything can be done in the future,” Canelo said.
Canelo can’t really say that he’s not a middleweight because he’s not fought at junior middleweight in two years since his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. Canelo has also been ballooning up to the mid-170s for his catch-weight fights at 155. That’s 20 pounds that he’s putting on after he rehydrates from 155. 175 is a very healthy middleweight. There are not too many middleweights heavier than that. The ones that do rehydrate beyond one 175 like Peter Quillin and Daniel Geale, fade late in their fights.
It’s nice that Canelo is being upfront about his disinterest in facing Golvokin because at least he knows what’s in store for him if Canelo beats Cotto on 11/21. Canelo is clearly not going to be fighting Golovkin. The same has already been pretty much spelled out by Cotto as well. He’s not likely going to bother facing Golovkin, because he can still make big money whether he has the WBC 160lb title in his possession or not.
Neither of these two stars needs titles in order to make good money. That’s why it looks like they’re not even going to bother taking the fight with the Kazakhstan star. There’s too much for them to lose and not even to gain. If Cotto or Canelo get beaten up by Golovkin, it would probably be by the worst way possible by knockout.
Losing by a knockout to a fighter like Golovkin would be a huge blow to the careers of Canelo and Cotto, resulting in their stock dropping badly in the boxing world. That means they might end up making less money in their future fights. But if they ignore Golovkin and toss the WBC title in the trash, then they can continue to make good money fighting guys like Daniel Geale, James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo.
Once the winner of the Cotto-Canelo fight chooses not to face Golovkin, the World Boxing Council will step in and strip the winner of that fight of the WBC title and then give it to Golovkin. At that point, Golovkin will have 3 of the 4 middleweight titles.
Since he’s not going to be able to fight Daniel Jacobs or Peter Quillin, Golovkin will need to hope that Britain’s Chris Eubank Jr. defeats Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan and then beats the winner of the Quillin vs. Jacobs fight. Eubank Jr. has already said he’d like to face Golovkin in a year or two. I think it might be a two-year wait for Golovkin, and that could be the case for Canelo as well.
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