Written by: Shaun La – This past Saturday evening, Canelo Alvarez (47-1, 33 Knockouts, 1 Draw) came to fight and to win. Depending on who you ask, he did exactly what he came to do—which was to knockout his opposition, without any regard to the speedy and pure boxing abilities that, Amir Khan, (31-4, 19 Knockouts) displayed. If you jump on other side of asking people, what did they think of this past mega-bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada? They will say that Canelo defeated an extra-heavy, bulked up, welterweight who has the experience of being trained to box, not slug it out, and his chin was always followed with a speculative wonder that always went back to, can he take a punch?
We should not take anything away from Canelo’s win. He flat out timed Amir, threw the right sledge hammer, landed and he knocked him out. To keep things concise with this mega-bout that went six rounds. Amir arrived with a speed and a blueprint to outbox the bigger (in weight) Canelo. Yes, Amir had success with his range, being the taller boxer, as well as establishing a fair amount of space to box and move, a trait that Coach Virgil Hunter instilled in Amir’s welterweight professional bouts. I told every one who would listen, when they asked about my opinion on this bout—-if Amir went beyond six rounds, he had a possibility of winning through the official scorecards, tallied up by the ringside judges. Another factor would be about his footwork. I shared with those who would listen, that Amir had to keep his leading foot outside of Canelo’s leading foot, otherwise, the direction of Amir’s movement would be going right into Canelo’s right hand. When Canelo landed that sledge hammer of a terrific punch, it was right around the time, Amir moved his leading foot right inside of Canelo’s leading foot.
Congratulations to Canelo! And I hope that Amir’s health is fine and that he has the proper rest, recovery and mindset to either go back to the welterweight division or do as he pleases if he does not want to box professionally, again. He does not have anything to prove to anyone. It takes a lot for a man to train, and to step into a boxing ring where his health is on the line for a title, fame and fortune.
Here is the largest debate in boxing right now—right as we start a new week, a couple days after Canelo did what he trained and paid to do. WIN!
What will Canelo do with his boxing career? The solar system is his limit. Canelo has a fan base that will follow him to an underwater arena in the Pacific Ocean, if he said that he was fighting on the ocean’s floor, in September. Mexico and its excellent tradition of bringing good and great boxing champions to the professional levels of boxing, respects him on a superstar level. Canelo has a top of the line promoter (Golden Boy) standing behind him, and the past business issues that Golden Boy went through as a company, it kind of worked out well for Canelo, who is the centerpiece of this professional boxing matchmaking company.
Gennady Golovkin (35-0, 32 Knockouts) appears to be the most famous, lucrative and beneficial bout for both boxers, and for the sport of boxing. There is a cloudiness that glides over making this bout happen. Before the Amir bout, Canelo was overtly dismissive of boxing Gennady (GGG). Even the great former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins (who has a leadership role at Golden Boy in a promoter’s capacity) suggested that GGG should move up to light-heavyweight or a catch-weight, and box the IBF, WBO (he also hold versions of the WBC, WBA) Champion, Sergey Kovalev (29-1, 26 Knockouts, 1 Draw). To any hardcore boxing fan, this suggestion would sound like unreasonable advice from one former, great middleweight champion to another potential, great middleweight champion.
Why?
GGG holds the IBF, IBO, and versions of the WBA and WBC at the Middleweight division. He also has a bold spot in the top five of the pound for pound best active boxers list.
As much as I respect Bernard Hopkins massive contributions to the sport of boxing, and his intelligent insight whenever he discusses the sport, I disagree with him suggesting that the undisputed middleweight champion of the world, GGG, moving up to light-heavyweight to box a Sergey Kovalev, who wishes to box one of the pound for pound best active boxers and former WBC and WBA, Super-Middleweight Champion Andre Ward (29-0, 15 Knockouts) or the WBC Champion, Adonis Stevenson (27-1, 22 Knockouts).
The Super-Middleweight and the Light-Heavyweight divisions does not need a GGG, right now.
People want to see Canelo vs. GGG, at, and for the Middleweight titles. Any distraction or excuse has made the boxing world think these three things:
1: Are they (Golden Boy) trying to take their investment in Canelo and his growing brand to a level where they do not want to match him against a very balanced and even bout with GGG; furthermore, they may not be willing to have the centerpiece of Golden Boy putting it all on the line against GGG, competition not only in the ring, but outside of the ring, when we talk about fame and the new face of boxing needing someone to fill the void left by Floyd Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Typically, when two boxers are not under the same promotional banner, the incentive to match two boxers in a bout, is not always at the top of things to do for the sport of boxing list. Risking their investment against a tough champion (GGG) but not as worldly known as Canelo won’t increase Golden Boy’s promotional ambitions to be ahead of other professional boxing promoters.
2: GGG is closing in on Bernard Hopkins, most consecutive defenses of the middleweight titles (20 defenses) record. Perhaps, Bernard might be trying to sway GGG out of eclipsing his major achievement. Which may sound crazy when you read it, but when boxing fans want a bout, they will try to pull angles from every direction to explain why a bout is not happening.
3: Maybe, it is a catch-weight fight issue, keeping up the routine of Canelo boxing at catch-weights (Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, James Kirkland, Alfredo Angulo, and Erislandy Lara). Whichever way that one may approve or disapprove of the catch-weight option in boxing, for Canelo, it has been a success, financially as well as professionally. GGG has been dedicated to fighting at 160, and wanting to stay in that dedication of being a middleweight champion.
In response to these possibilities, I will write this, boxing is a business, and if one, two or all three of these things that are listed up above hold some weight or not. It does not make Golden Boy or not wanting someone to eclipse your record, a bad thing. It is business and competition rolled into one. In the past, welterweights, Aaron Pryor and Sugar Ray Leonard, two of the greatest boxers from the 20th century were always matched up against each other, when boxing fans, boxing commentators and experts tried to push them to box. In the year of 1980, Aaron Pryor and Sugar Ray Leonard came very close to making a WBC Championship bout. Yet, they never boxed, for whatever reasons that stopped their chances to find a contract to fulfill both of their benefits. Despite the boxing fans who think it was everything besides the business side of boxing, I highly doubt it was fear from either boxer wanting to box one another.
Maybe it is just the politics here in this situation as well. Optimism did grow after Canelo’s win from this past weekend. His promoter, Oscar De La Hoya sounded as if he wanted to make the bout with GGG. Canelo, wearing his powerful win with deserved confidence, expressed that he is ready to put on the gloves to fight GGG. We as boxing fans, was excited to hear Canelo’s challenge. Let us hope that the phone call to GGG, which Oscar said would make, after his fighter, Canelo won his fight against Amir is not just a buzz move to keep us boxing fans talking; let us hope that we as boxing fans stop doing the talking and let the promoters for both camps talk it out and then we will get back to talking about who will win, once their bout is announced.
As we go through this new week, excited boxing fans, awaiting to see what this spring and summer season of boxing has in store for us. We have September on our mind right now. Canelo has yet to box at a contractual 160 pounds, the weight that most boxing fans consider to be the middleweight’s weight. He could take on a boxer from the Jr. Middleweight division, such as Jermell Charlo (27-0, 12 Knockouts) or the WBO Middleweight Champion, Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 knockouts). Canelo could entice IBF Champion, Kell Brook (36-0, 25 Knockouts) or WBA Champion, Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 Knockouts, 1 No Contest) to drop their belts and come up to a 150 something pounds, catch-weight bout with millions of dollars and fame following their acceptance. I believe that all of these possibilities would be competitive, some more so than others; however, we want to see Canelo vs. GGG, at 160.
Boxing fans have the patience. We waited years for Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao. This article could be an unofficial memo for the promoters on both sides of the negotiations, Canelo’s and GGG’s—-let us not put off a boxing bout that would make the middleweight division stand up tall, in the world’s arena, and from there, bring boxing back into a sport that lives with the best thinker, and boxer on fight night, giving their skills to a physical chess match inside of the ropes, throwing punches, avoiding punches, being offensive, defensive and when it all said and done, someone earning the championship and honor to have their wrapped hand raised in the ring while being called, ” The Middleweight Champion of the World.”