Liam Smith looking taller than Canelo Alvarez

By Boxing News - 07/20/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: This is probably inconsequential but I WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) looks taller than challenger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) more than a half an inch. The two fighters are listed as close to the same height, and yet the 5’9 ½” Smith appears to be at least one inch taller than the 5’9” Canelo.

It makes you call into question the accuracy of the listed heights for the two fighters because in every picture there is of the two side by side or facing off, Smith appears to be a good one inch taller.

Canelo and Smith will be fighting each other on September 10 at the AT& T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The fight will be televised on HBO PPV in the States. WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders will be fighting on the undercard against an opponent still to be determined.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Saunders will probably be Canelo’s next opponent for December. It’s an easy strap for Canelo to win if he gets past Smith.

Back to the height issue; if the 27-year-old Smith is really 5’9 ½”, then that means Canelo is just 5’8 ½” and that’s clearly too small for him to compete against the likes of the 5’10 ½” Gennady “GGG” Golovkin or the 5’11” Daniel Jacobs. If I were Canelo, I wouldn’t ever move up to middleweight if I didn’t have to because he’s too short to be taking on the taller guys. Weight has nothing to do with it. Canelo is too short to be fighting those tall guys.

Second press conference done 👍🏼

A photo posted by Liam Smith (@liambeefysmith) on

Smith probably doesn’t have enough of a size advantage over Canelo for it to be any real help to him. I mean, we’re only talking about one inch in height. For it to really benefit Smith, he would need at least a two to five inch height and reach advantage over the hard hitting Canelo. As such, I still see this as a mismatch. I hate to say it, but I just can’t give Smith any chance of beating Canelo.

It’s helpful that Smith has the height advantage over Canelo, but he’s probably going to be considerably lighter than him when the two of them get inside the ring on September 17. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Smith is giving away 20 pounds in weight.

I wish him luck trying to beat a 185lb Canelo. Smith should have pushed for a rehydration clause to keep Canelo within 10 pounds of him on the morning of the fight. Without that, Canelo can come into the fight as heavy as he wants and basically use his weight advantage to crush Smith.