By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez is holding out hope that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will give him a badly needed rematch in 2020 so that he can avenge his only career defeat. Mayweather SCHOOLED the young 22-year-old Canelo in beating him by a 12 round majority decision on September 14, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Canelo still seems bitter about loss to Mayweather
In the aftermath, Canelo was bitter and angry about the loss, complaining about Mayweaather not standing still so he could fight him one-on-one. In other words, Canelo was upset that Mayweather didn’t give him a handicap. It’s not as Canelo didn’t already have a big handicap going for him in the fact that Mayweather was considerably lighter, weaker, and older at 35-years-old.
Mayweather won by the scores 117-111, 116-112, 114-114. Boxing News 24 had Mayweather winning 119-109. Canelo fought well enough to win one round, but that’s about it. The judge that scored it a draw at 114-114, CJ Ross, was badly criticized by boxing fans afterwards.
Mayweather rematch would be different now – Canelo
“It’s a fight that I would definitely like, and it’s a different time now,” said Canelo to TMZ Sport in discussing a hypothetical rematch with Mayweather.
“I was very young and experienced at the time and now I’m a different fighter. It will be a totally different result, but it’s a fight that I don’t think will happen,” ssid Canelo of a fight against Mayweather.
Canelo would gain nothing in fighting Mayweather in 2020, as far as receiving credit from the boxing world. Now that Canelo has bulked up to light heavyweight, he would look like a weight bully in fighting Mayweather now. Additionally, Mayweather will be turning 43-years-old in February 2020, and there’s no way that Canelo would receive credit for beating him at this point.
Look at it this way: If Canelo beats Mayweather, boxing fans will stay he beat an old man. Moreover, they’ll say he used his weight advantage to win. A loss for Canelo would wreck his career, and reinforce the belief that he was a pretender to the throne.
Jorge Masvidal fight interests Canelo
“I still don’t know. We’ll see for May,” said Canelo to TMZ when asked who he’ll be fighting next. “MMA fighter? For business, why not,” said Canelo when asked if he’d be interested in facing UFC star Jorge Masvidal. “We’ll see. Oh my God,” said Canelo when asked if he thinks he could beat the 42-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. now.
Canelo facing UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal would play well to the MMA fans, but not the boxing fans. This would be viewed as another glorified Youtube celebrity match for fans that aren’t familiar with Masvidal. If Canelo is just interested in money, then fighting Masvidal would work. Boxing fans would be less interested, because they don’t know who Masvidal is
Canelo not throwing Andy Ruiz Jr. under the bus
“It’s something that happens to the best of us sometimes, you know?” said Canelo when asked about his thoughts on an out of shape Andy Ruiz Jr. losing his rematch against Anthony Joshua on December 7.
Canelo is taking the high road not to dump on Andy Ruiz following his loss to Anthony Joshua. Practically the entire boxing world has been giving Ruiz a hard time over his loss, and saying that should have worked harder to get in shape.
Ruiz Jr. lost his IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles against Joshua earlier this month in Saudi Arabia. The chief reason for Ruiz losing was him coming into the fight out of shape, weighing 283 lbs, and not prepared. Ruiz’s trainer Manny Robles spoke of him skipping training days, and not putting in the effort needed to win.
