Salido: Canelo isn’t a superstar, he’s protected

By Boxing News - 08/03/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Former two division world champion Orlando Salido doesn’t believe that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) is a true superstar, because he feels that the 26-year-old is being protected from facing the best. In Salido’s mind, fighters that are the best in boxing are the ones that are willing to take on the very best no matter what the risks involved. Salido doesn’t see that happening with Canelo. Salido thinks that Canelo will lose to unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) if the two of them ever face each other in the future.

At this point, it’s unknown if they were ever will, because Canelo opted not to fight Triple G in 2016, and he didn’t fight him in 2015 either. If Canelo doesn’t face Golovkin in 2017, it would be the third straight year where he’s not faced him.

You could conclude that Canelo doesn’t fancy his chances of beating the Kazakhstan fighter. It would obviously be bad news for Canelo if he lost to Golovkin, but at least ye would be fighting the best and showing the boxing world that he’s willing to take the risky fights against guys his own size.

Canelo makes a big deal about the fact that he fought little Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the undersized 5’7” former WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, but those were both much smaller fighters than himself. Cotto is a former light welterweight, and Mayweather started his career out at super featherweight. Amir Khan said recently that Canelo weighed 187lbs for their fight on May 7. He’s obviously a huge guy fighting opposition lighter than himself.

“No, I don’t think he’s a superstar,” said Salido about Canelo to Sport TV. “I think they protect him. I think if you’re going to be a superstar in boxing, you have to fight the best,” said Salido.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhvkfoqg3y4&feature=youtu.be

In speaking about Canelo’s recent annihilation of welterweight Amir Khan last May, Salido said, “It was a brutal knockout, year. But the weight division, it was such a difference that it was unfair.”

In asking whether Gennady Golovkin’s fight against welterweight Kell Brook is a similar mismatch as the Canelo vs. Khan fight was, Salido said, “Yeah, similar situation. [But] He [Golovkin] doesn’t hide away, he fights the best. I don’t criticize Triple G.”
When questioned who will win in a fight between Golovkin and Canelo, Salido said, “I think GGG.”

Canelo will be fighting unbeaten World Boxing Organization junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) next month on September 17 on HBO PPV at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Canelo is taking a boatload of criticism for his choice of fighting Smith as well, because he’s a smaller fighter and not considered among the top guys in the 154lb division. If Canelo is really weighing close to 190 for his fights, then there’s no reason why he should be melting down to 154 to fight a small fighter like Liam Smith. The move backs no sense at all.

Salido, 35, recently fought WBC super featherweight champion Francisco Vargas to an exciting 12 round draw last June in a ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate. I thought it was the most exciting fight of 2016 by far, and I thought Salido should have been given the win, as I did in his previous fight against former WBO super featherweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez last September. That fight too was scored a draw.

It would be nice for boxing fans to see Canelo step up and face Golovkin, because it would at least give them a chance to gauge how good or not so good both fighters are. By Canelo waiting to fight the 34-year-old, it gives some fans the impression that he’s waiting him out until he’s old, gray and toothless before he fights him. By waiting to take the fight, Canelo will lessen the credit that he would get if he does beat Golovkin. The only way that Canelo can get credit is if he fights him now, because it won’t count if Golovkin doesn’t have a tooth in his head by the time that Canelo does fight him. We don’t want to see Golovkin coming out to center ring with a cane or a walker to touch gloves in round one.