By Sean Jones: Saul Canelo Alvarez spoke of making history last Saturday night after beating WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev by an eleventh round TKO to become a four-division world champ. The fight wasn’t interesting to watch, and that’s being kind. There was nothing great about either fighter’s performance. Canelo was exposed as a low-volume, short guy, who was helpless when Kovalev was in the middle of the ring.
Canelo would impress fans by fighting Beterbiev
It would impress a lot of boxing fans if Canelo showed courage, and stayed at 175 to face IBF/WBC champion Artur Beterbiev for his two titles. The fans want to know now whether Canelo will take on Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) for his two titles. This is the guy that is viewed as the best of the best at 175, and he’s the one that Canelo SHOULD have fought last Saturday.
What most boxing fans expect Canelo to do is to move down in weight to face Gennadiy Golovkin or Billy Joe Saunders for his next fight. They don’t think Canelo will agree to fight Beterbiev. No one wants to see Canelo get taken apart by Beterbiev. If Canelo REALLY wants to make history, he needs to fight the best in the divisions that he’s winning his belts.
It’s quite clear that Canelo’s victory over WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding last year wasn’t a case of him fighting the best champion in that weight class. Canelo’s win over Kovalev wasn’t against the best champion at 175. It was arguably against the weakest champion in the division. By taking on Beterbiev, Canelo can prove to boxing fans that he’s willing to take on the best champion.
Alvarez’s trainer Reynoso said Kovalev is better than Beterbiev
Canelo’s trainer Eddy Reynoso was dismissive of Beterbiev when asked by the media this week, saying that Kovalev is better than him.
“If there’s another 175, we’ll win it as well,” said Reynoso. “Kovalev is BETTER than Beterbiev. That’s the reason why we’re fighting him. So why wouldn’t we fight him [Beterbiev].”
The look on Reynoso’s face when he said that didn’t match his words that were coming out of his mouth. He didn’t look at all believable, because he was saying made no sense. It was pretty clear going into last Saturday’s fight that Kovalev is shot, and nowhere near the level that he once was. As such, Beterbiev is the guy that Canelo should have been challenging in his attempt at becoming a four division world champion.
This is Reynoso’s chance to back up his words by having Canelo STAY at 175 to face Beterbiev in a unification fight. If Canelo wants to make history against a fighter that will be fighting at FULL strength and not one-quarter power, then he needs to fight Beterbiev. This guy won’t lighten up on his shots the way that Kovalev appeared to be doing against Canelo.
Beterbiev looked sensational recently with his 10th round knockout victory over previously unbeaten WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (17-1, 14 KOs) on October 18 in Philadelphia. Gvozdyk is an incredibly talented fighter, and Beterbiev wore him down and stopped in the 10th round.
Why did Kovalev throw his punches with NO power behind them?
Canelo moved up a couple of divisions to knock off the 36-year-old Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs), who fought a STRANGE fight by not throwing any of his punches with power on. Even Kovalev’s normally powerful jabs were thrown with NO zip on them or even speed. It looked like Kovalev was fighting at one-quarter power. Was Kovalev taking it easy on Canelo, and if so, why? Kovalev’s purse for the fight was over $12 million, according to Dan Rafael.
The bigger, stronger Kovalev handicapped himself by not using his power or his size against Canelo. Why did he do that? Can you imagine a knockout artist from the past choosing to throw weak shots against there opponents? They wouldn’t do it, and that’s why boxing fans don’t understand what was going through Kovalev’s head last Saturday. That was disturbing to watch.
The way Kovalev fought, it makes impossible to give Canelo full credit for beating him, because the guy looked like he was sparring rather than fighting. Canelo even mentioned afterwards that Kovalev didn’t try to fight.
“This is just one step in my history,” Alvarez said. “Be patient because Canelo will make history. It’s a guarantee.”
Kovalev threw weak jabs the entire fight, and fought like he was taking it easy on Canelo. The match looked like a fight between close friends. The lack of intensity from Kovalev was hard to ignore, considering that The Krusher had never fought like that before during his career. Why did Kovalev come into the fight and throw nothing with power or speed?