By Gav Duthie: When you are at the top people will want to take you down. The fans and media hated Muhammad Ali for changing his name from Cassius Clay, for refusing to fight in Vietnam for just being himself.
Ray Leonard was criticized for ducking fights for constantly retiring. Floyd Mayweather was viewed as a cherry picker by some, fighting guys when they were too young or too old. Whether true or not when you are at the top jealousy will always rear its ugly head.
In the end, those previous fighters’ legacies are cemented, legends forever. Canelo Alvarez is now that man. Seen by some fans as a cherry picker, a drugs cheat and judges favorite. Canelo has achieved amazing things over the last decade, multiple fantastic victories and performances, a 4 weight world champion and a Mexican hero.
One thing he really needs to shake though is being the beneficiary of controversial decisions. For all the criticism Mayweather received there is only one fight ever from his 50 that can be questioned. His debut in the lightweight division against the rugged Jose Luis Castillo. Most thought he lost, myself included but he avenged it.
There isn’t much more ammunition that can really be aimed at him but the same can not be said for Canelo. In fighting Billy Joe Saunders on May 2nd he is taking on an undefeated fighter with a style of boxing that Canelo often struggles with. He needs to win and win big. If he truly wants to be the king of the sport he needs to show his superiority in every fight to avoid genuine criticism.
Drugs cheat
Canelo’s 6-month boxing ban for testing positive for clenbuterol was a real setback for the sport. The only way it affected him was that his rematch with Golovkin took place in September 2018 instead of May. It gave out the wrong message. Canelo claimed he was innocent, maybe he was but it was his body and a banned substance was found. Getting 6 months off just told every other boxer to go for it, take what you want and if you get caught no big deal.
Criticism – 4 weight world champion?
Many feel that Canelo is not a legitimate 4 weight world champion. Nobody takes issue with 154lb (WBC Matthew Hatton UD) (WBA Austin Trout UD) (WBO Liam Smith TKO 9), 160lbs (WBC Miguel Cotto UD) (WBA Gennady Golovkin MD) and 175lbs (Sergey Kovalev KO11). His claim to a 168lb title though is weak. He is the victor of the often criticized WBA regular championships with an easy victory over Rocky Fielding.
The WBA has two world champions per division with the super champion being the top dog. In the 168lb division, this is Calum Smith so because Canelo is below him. For what its worth this writer does not see it this way. We have had some great champions as regular titlists in the past and they have every right to call themselves world champions but not everyone agrees. A win over a legitimate champion (Billy Joe Saunders WBO) will eliminate this criticism.
Controversial decisions
For me, this is Canelo’s biggest problem. Even in his only loss (Floyd Mayweather) where he lost practically every round one judge still scored the bout a draw. Austin Trout landed 30 more punches than Canelo during their fight, Erislandy Lara landed 10 more. In the two Gennady Golovkin fights GGG landed almost 50 more in the first fight and 30 more in the rematch. Punch stats don’t always tell the full story of course.
Lara, for example, was very negative and most of his punches were defensive jabs. Canelo did well to the body and had a big edge in power shots. He managed to knock down Austin Trout and he certainly controlled a lot more of the action in the second Golovkin fight. Even so to not lose any of those fights where you are getting out landed constantly is very lucky, to say the least. For my part I felt Trout beat him and Golovkin in the first fight, the others are debatable.
There is nothing wrong with this of course even if Canelo had 2 or 3 losses he would still be one of the world’s best but it opens you up to criticism as a protected fighter. The last thing he needs is to be outboxed by Billy Joe Saunders and still win a UD.
Elusive style
Canelo really struggles with good defensive fighters. A good jab and lateral movement seem to be the Achilles heel for Canelo. He struggled with the aforementioned bouts Mayweather, Trout, and Lara. He also had difficulties getting beyond Sergey Kovalev’s jab but managed in the end. In fairness, he has improved massively in this department over the last few years. Miguel Cotto tried to box him this way, Daniel Jacobs is a good mover and he wore down Kovalev eventually despite his good back to basics Buddy McGirt style.
Canelo has been good at going to the body in recent years to slow down boxers with good lateral movement and his defense is also better. That being said if there is one style that Canelo struggles with it is that of Saunders. There needs to be no controversy as to the winner here so that he can be seen as a legitimate 168lb champion.
The Fury of Canelo
He can’t escape criticism, that comes part and parcel with being the sports biggest athlete. That will always be there. Any opponent he chooses the media will suggest he should have chosen another but he certainly needs to really start winning convincingly against a certain type of boxer and that needs to start from Billy Joe Saunders.