By Dan Ambrose: Saul Canelo Alvarez will be fighting without a weight handicap this Saturday night in moving up to 168 to challenge WBA World super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding at his natural weight on DAZN at Madison Square Garden in New York. Canelo could have used his A-side pull to drain the 31-year-old Fielding down to a catchweight just within the super middleweight limit if he had wanted to, but instead he’s chosen to fight the tall British fighter at the full limit of the weight class at 168.
Canelo obviously wants to be given credit from boxing fans. He took a lot of criticism when he fought at catchweights from 2014 to 2016.
“I’m taking a risk by entering into a comfort zone of a champion and his weight, that’s a risk, and that risk makes it even,” Canelo said. “It makes it interesting. No fight is easy, so I’m preparing for a hard fight.”
This might be the only time in Canelo’s career in which he fights at the full weight at super middleweight. He’s already made it clear that he intends on moving back down to 160 without defending the WBA 168 lb title if he beats Fielding on Saturday. The super middleweight division lacks the popular fighters that might tempt Canelo to stick around for long. The weight class also has a lot of big punchers like Callum Smith, David Benavidez and Jose Uzcategui, to name just a few. That’s even more of a reason for Canelo not to stay at super middleweight. He could get hurt fighting those big guys. Fielding is also dangerous, but there’s less of a chance that he’ll do a number on Canelo than if he fought one of the above mentioned bigger punchers.
Above all, Canelo, 28, wants to look good on Saturday night in defeating Fielding to relieve him of his WBA ‘regular’ 168 lb title. This is an important fight for Canelo. The American boxing fans might not be impressed with Canelo fighting an obscure super middleweight champion like Fielding, but it’s important for the Mexican star to win the belt. This would be Canelo’s third division world title, and that would mean a lot to him to achieve that goal. Canelo hasn’t ruled out moving up to 175 to challenge one of the world champions in that division one day. The light heavyweight division currently doesn’t have a weak link among their four champions that a small fighter like Canelo can exploit the way the super middleweight division has with Fielding holding a belt. Canelo is in an ideal spot to win a title on Saturday against a vulnerable champion in Fielding. If Callum Smith was holding all four titles at 168, it’s safe to say that Canelo wouldn’t attempt to face him. Smith is too big and too strong. It would have looked better on Canelo’s part to fight the best super middleweight champion rather than the perceived weakest, but that’s the decision he and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions have made. They wanted the weakest link among the 168 lb champions, and that’s arguably Rocky Fielding.
Canelo wants to knock Fielding out if possible. That’s the uppermost goal for Canelo. Since he’s not facing the best of the super middleweight champions, it’s extremely important that Canelo KOs Fielding so that he can receive at least some credit from boxing fans for winning a third division world title. Canelo fighting at 168 will be lost on the casual fans. They likely have no idea that he’s moving up in weight to challenge a champion at a higher weight class. The casual boxing fans in the U.S only know that they’ve never heard of Fielding, and that it’s a fight involving Canelo an obscure guy. For that reason, it’s important for Canelo to stop Fielding. He can’t just win the fight. It’s also important to KO Fielding, given the punishment that Canelo could sustain in going 12 rounds with a fighter that size. Fielding might not be the weakest talent-wise of the champions at 168, but he’s a very hard puncher and he could wear Canelo down with his heavy shots.
“Winning by a KO is always impressive,” Canelo said about Fielding. “I am preparing to make the best of it in this fight by any way, by any means necessary. I’m going to give everything in the ring, and I’m always going to look for the KO as I do in my fights.”
What’s clear is that Canelo can’t fight Fielding the same way he did Gennady Golovkin in their first fight in 2017, and he can’t fight him the way he fought Liam Smith in 2016. In other words, Canelo can’t fight with his back against the ropes. If the 5’8″ Canelo fights with his back against the ropes against the much taller and longer-armed 6’1″ Fielding, he’s going to be picked apart by him all night long. That doesn’t mean that Canelo still won’t win. We saw in Canelo’s first fight against GGG and his matches against Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara that he win rounds even when being out-hit by his longer-armed opponents. Canelo can get the decision by landing a few hard shots in each round that will impress the judges to make them ignore Fielding landing a lot more shots from the outside. But that’s not how Canelo should fight Fielding. Canelo needs to press forward and attack Fielding in the same way he did in his rematch against Gennady last September. Canelo has got to back Fielding up or at least attempt to in order to land his shots. Surprisingly, Golovkin gave ground to Canelo each time he came forward to press him in each round. The judges were impressed with the pressure that Canelo was putting on GGG. Even though Canelo was never able to back Golovkin up to the ropes, just by him backing him up to the center of the ring, it impressed the judges. That approach might not work against Fielding though. He doesn’t back up when attacked. He tends to stand his ground and fight. If Canelo comes forward to pressure Fielding, he’s going to need to be prepared to get hit with some major shots.
Unlike Golovkin, Fielding isn’t just a head-hunter. He likes to throw body shots, and he has a very good uppercut that he throws a lot. Golovkin never threw any shots to the midsection of Canelo in his two fights with him. GGG’s trainer Abel Sanchez wanted him to go to the body of Canelo, but he didn’t want to take the risk of getting countered by him. Fielding will take that risk. He’s got the height and reach to land to Canelo’s body without being in his wheelhouse the way the shorter GGG was.
“It’s very important to be on that list of about 10 Mexicans to become three-division world champions, to enter history.,” Canelo said about his desire to win a third division world title. “That’s why I’m here taking on this important fight, and it’s important that we win this title.”
Taking fights for the wrong reason is never a good thing. Canelo is thinking a little too much about his legacy and not enough about what’s important. The important thing for a fighter to achieve a legacy that is worthwhile is to face the best. Fielding isn’t the best. He’s a belt holder. He’s not considered the best fighter at 168 or even the second or third best fighter. He’s just a belt holder, who took advantage of a champion that arguably never deserved to be a champion in the first place in Tyron Zeuge. Fielding is just a product of the way that the many sanctioning bodies in boxing has watered down the sport with their many titles. Counting the interim titles, there are as many as eight world titles that can be won at super middleweight. When you have that many world titles that can be won in any given division, it makes it easy for fighters that are looking to pad their resumes by winning world titles in different weight classes. That’s why the only way that a fighter get the most credit in moving up in weight is if they take on the perceived #1 champion in that weight class. In Canelo’s case, he’s chosen what many boxing fans believe is the weakest of the champions at 168 in Fielding. It’s a weak move obviously on Canelo’s part to have selected Fielding instead of Callum Smith, but that’s what he wanted. Canelo chose Fielding, and that’s why it’s important that he knocks him out if he wants to get any credit from the boxing public. Unfortunately for Canelo, Callum Smith already beat him to it in knocking out Fielding in the 1st round in 2015. Smith set a high bar with his quick stoppage. If Canelo has to labor to beat Fielding, then it’s going to show the fans that he made the right decision not to go after Callum for his WBA Super World super middleweight title.
Fielding hasn’t been the WBA secondary champion for long. He won the belt five months ago in stopping champion Tyron Zeuge in the 5th round last July.
“It’s not a secret that I’m a better fighter and that I’m more experienced,” Canelo said.
Canelo is more experienced than Fielding, and he has the advantage in technical skills. Whether Canelo is the better fighter at 168 remains to be seen. This is Fielding’s natural weight class, and even though he’s not perceived as the best of the champions at 168, he’s still a good fighter. Canelo will need to show that he’s a better fighter than Fielding at 168, since everything that the Mexican fighter has accomplished in the past has taken place at 147, 154 and 160. Canelo is entering new territory in fighting Fielding at 168. This might not workout for Canelo. His height and reach are incredibly tiny for the super middleweight division. There are no 5’8″ fighters that are excelling at super middleweight right now, and for good reason. They’re too short. Canelo’s 70″ reach would put him at a handicap against any of the quality super middleweights in the division. That means Canelo would be speared from the outside all the time in his fights if he were to stay at super middleweight.