Canelo says he has a “big surprise” for fans on September 17

By Boxing News - 08/19/2016 - Comments

Image: Canelo says he has a “big surprise” for fans on September 17

By Dan Ambrose: Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) says he’ll be revealing a big surprise for the fans on September 17 when he gets inside the ring with WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Just what that surprise is has many boxing fans guessing.

Will Canelo finally announce that he’s fighting IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin to show the fans that he’s not afraid of him, or does he merely mean that his win over Smith will be the big surprise. If that’s the case, then it won’t be much of a surprise because a lot of fans are already picking Canelo to win the fight.

If Smith was seen as a dangerous threat to beating the former two division world champion Canelo, then his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions likely wouldn’t let their golden goose anywhere near Smith.

”I am planning a big surprise when I get into the ring. The fans inside the AT&T Stadium and those ones watching at home will witness something special,” said Canelo.

It would be in Canelo’s best interest to tell his fans that he’s going to fight Golovkin because it would help him win back a lot of the fans that have abandoned him after he chose to vacate his World Boxing Council title rather than face Golovkin this year. At least by Canelo telling the fight fans that he’ll be fighting Golovkin at a predetermined date, the fans would feel a lot better than him cherry-picking an opponent like Liam Smith on September 17 rather than GGG or one of the good junior middleweight champions.

It’s doubtful that Canelo will announce that he’s fighting Golovkin next, because if he was going to make an announcement of that kind, his promoters would have already told Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions about their plans. With the way that Loeffler was talking this week, he doesn’t seem to know when Canelo will ever fight GGG.

If this isn’t going to be a big announcement from Canelo that he’ll finally be stepping up to the plate and fighting Golovkin, then this comment from him about having a “big surprise” for the fans sounds very similar to one of throwaway comments that Golovkin likes to make about giving his fans a ‘big present’ on fight night.

If Canelo isn’t going to announce the Golovkin fight, then at least he can come up with something original to say to get his boxing fans excited about his match-up with the 27-year-old Smith. Judging by the cool response from the fight fans from Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy about him fighting Smith, it’s going to be extremely hard for Canelo to excite the fans about this fight.

The only thing that Canelo can to make fans excited about the Smith fight would be for him to leak news now that he’ll be fighting Golovkin in December of this year or in May of 2017. If Canelo were to announce that information now, then a lot of boxing fans would get excited about the news and want to see him fight Smith. Without Canelo doing something like that, I don’t think the fans re going to get excited about him fighting Smith. There won’t be enough of the fans purchasing the fight on PPV for his big announcement to reach a lot of ears on September 17.

“My focus is becoming a world champion-that’s the main purpose of this fight. To become a world champion one more time will be sweet and memorable. This victory would be for all my Mexican fans and those all over the world,” said Canelo.

Canelo isn’t expected to hold onto the WBO junior middleweight title if he beats Smith. Golden Boy is already talking about Canelo possibly fighting WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in December or at some other point in the future. If that’s the case, then the WBO 154lb title that Canelo wins on September 17 will be cast away like a useless trinket so that he can go after another title.

It would be dangerous for Canelo’s career to hold onto the WBO 154lb title for any length of time, because the World Boxing Organization No.1 contender is Demetrius Andrade. He’s someone that would be very difficult for Canelo to beat, and I can’t see Golden Boy Promotions letting that fight take place. Andrade would ne Smith’s problem if he beats Canelo on September 17.