By Sean Jones: In a predictable move, Canelo Alvarez officially vacated his WBO 175-lb title on Tuesday, and he’ll now be focusing on fighting at 168 and 160 instead.
Few fans expected Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) to hold onto the WBO light heavyweight title after winning it by stopping Sergey Kovalev in the 11th round on November 2.
Unfortunately, Canelo was viewed as a paper champion at 175, and not as a real champ by a lot of boxing fans. There were a lot of question marks about the Canelo-Kovalev fight, as it looked like Sergey was taking it easy on Alvarez. In comparing how Kovalev looked in his previous fight against Anthony Yarde, it was like two different people. The power, the jab and the speed was missing from Kovalev in the Canelo fight.
Canelo look a “calculated risk”, as Andre Ward said, in taking on a past his best 36-year-old Kovalev and it paid off. He didn’t take a “stupid risk” in facing arguably the best light heavyweight in the division in Beterbiev, but it was obvious what the end result would have been. Beteriev would have been bad news for Canelo, who some feel is an “opportunist.’
Did Canelo vacate WBO belt to avoid Beterbiev?
Holding onto the WBO light heavyweight title would have led to Canelo receiving crazy pressure from boxing fans to face Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs), who doesn’t need judges for his fights. Beterbiev is someone that could fight Canelo in his favorite venue at the T-Mobile in Las Vegas, and no worry about the judges taking away a win. There’s no way that Canelo was going to hold onto his WBO belt, and deal with the pressure to face Beterbiev.
You can argue that the WBO light heavyweight belt was like a hot potato for Canelo that he couldn’t wait to get rid of. Keeping the WBO belt would have meant that Canelo would have needed to take some REAL risks with his career by fighting Beterbiev, Bivol, Gvozdyk or Gilberto Ramirez.
Canelo looked poor against the 36-year-old Kovalev. The Russian fighter appeared to be fighting at just one-quarter speed and strength. In the 8th, Kovalev suddenly started throwing with power, and putting massive pressure, and he had Canelo looking in bad shape. If Kovalev had fought like that for more than one round, he likely would have stopped Canelo.
The 5’8″ Canelo is an excellent fighter, but he would stand no chance at all against the elite level 175-pound fighters like Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol and Oleksandr Gvozdyk. Canelo made a wise decision in picking Kovalev rather than those three fighters.
Canelo explains why he chose to vacate WBO belt
“I know that my accomplishments in the ring have brought pride to my fans and my country,” said Canelo. “I have long enjoyed my relationship with the WBO and appreciate all they do to preserve and enhance the sport of boxing. This agreement allows the WBO to have its light heavyweight title contested regularly and allows me to pursue bouts against the best opponents, regardless of weight class.”
With the WBO belt now vacated, Canelo is expected to move back down to 168 to challenge either WBO belt holder Billy Joe Saunders or WBA champ Callum Smith. Both are coming off of poor performances in defending their titles. Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) was shockingly getting beaten up by fringe contender Marcelo Esteban Coceres on November 9 when he stopped him in the 11th round. Not surprisingly, Canelo is expected to pick Saunders as his next opponent, which will further reinforce the “opportunist” label that some fans have for him.
Callum looked almost as bad as Saunders in winning a controversial 12 round unanimous decision over his mandatory challenger John Ryder on November 23 in Liverpool. Ryder appeared to have done enough to deserve a draw if not win, but the judges turned in a set of scores that were heavily slanted in Callum’s favor. They scored it 116-112, 117-111, 116-112. Ryder’s request for a rematch with Smith has been ignored.