Canelo Alvarez team makes offer to Jason Quigley for September 12

By Boxing News - 07/16/2020 - Comments

By Kenneth Friedman: Golden Boy Promotions has made an offer to #14 WBC middleweight contender Jason Quigley to be the opponent for Saul Canelo Alvarez on September 12 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Quigley would be an odd choice for Canelo, as he’s now fighting at 168, and he holds a title in that weight class.

For Canelo to be combing the 160-pound ranks for opponents, it reeks of insecurity on his part. Alvarez should be picking guys from the 168-pound division, if not the 175-lb weight class, which is where he was for his last fight in November.

Quigley promoted by Golden Boy

What makes Quigley a logical choice for Canelo is he’s signed with Golden Boy Promotions, which would make it an in house fight for them. Aside from that, there’s no upside to Canelo fighting Quigley because this is arguably a step down from the Rocky Fielding mismatch in 2018. Fielding would likely beat Quigley.

For Quigley to get the fight, it would be a sign that Golden Boy didn’t want to pay for a good opponent, which would cost more.

They won’t have the luxury of using the gate money to pay for Canelo’s opponent because his next fight will be without an audience.

Image: Canelo Alvarez team makes offer to Jason Quigley for September 12

Quigley has accepted the offer

Jason Quigley has agreed to the offer from Golden Boy, and it’s now it’s up to them and Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) to decide if this is the opponent they want.

It’s believed that the Irish fighter Quigley (18-1, 14 KOs) is one of several guys that Golden Boy is making offers to. Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Billy Joe Saunders have chosen not to take the deal offered to them by Golden Boy to face Canelo.

Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs) is going in the direction of challenging WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (30-0, 22 KOs), and their fight is close to being finalized.

Signing the 29-year-old Quigley as Canelo’s next opponent would be a surprise because he’s not even a top ten conder at 160, and he was knocked out last year by Tureano Johnson.

“Out there at the minute, it’s looking like myself or Ryder that could be high potential possibilities for that fight,” said Quigley to skysports.com. “They have offered me the fight, to fight Canelo Alvarez, and it’s all there.

“We’re just waiting now for the possibility. Of course, there are other boxers that could possibly be getting the fight as well. But I have been asked, ‘would I take the fight?’ 100 percent, I said ‘yes,” said Quigley.

During Quigley’s amateur days in Ireland, he took a gold medal in the 2013 European Amateur Championships and a silver medal in the 2013 World Amateur Championships.

Quigley trained by Andy Lee

Former middleweight champion Andy Lee is the trainer for Quigley, and that’s one positive that he’s got going for him. Lee was an excellent fighter during his career, and he knows a lot about the game.

If Quigley does get the Canelo fight, Lee will come up with a good game plan that will give him a fighting chance of winning.

Since turning pro in 2014, Quigley has looked mostly good except against Tureano Johnson last year. That was a case of Quigley being put in with someone that he wasn’t ready for at that point in his career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CexXahbVCk

Quigley has come back from the loss in winning his last two matches against C-level opponents Abraham Cordero and Fernando Marin. Those two are consistent with the other 17 wins on Quigley’s resume.

The main criticism boxing fans have of Quigley is the low-level opposition that he’s faced consistently during his career.

This would be a real Rocky story for Quigley if he were to pull off the upset against Canelo because on paper, he’s over-matched.

Quigley getting the fight against Canelo would mean that he was agreeable to taking the smallest offer that was given to the arguably more talented fighters like Derevyanchenko.

It doesn’t look suitable for Quigley going up against an experienced fighter with Canelo’s ability, but that’s not what this fight would be about for Golden Boy.

Quigley would be getting the match against Alvarez for these reasons:  

  • He’s inexpensive
  • DAZN global launch
  • Low risk for Alvarez
  • Quigley is signed with Golden Boy

Perhaps the #1 reason why Quigley would be selected over fighters like John Ryder and Callum Smith is his price tag. Golden Boy doesn’t have a lot of money to pay for Canelo’s next opponent because of the pandemic, and

What Quigley isn’t saying is that he’ll need to move up to 168 to face the bulked up Canelo, who now looks like the Incredible Hulk with the transformation he’s made with his physique since his first fight against Gennadiy Golovkin in 2017.

Canelo’s body looks much different from how it looked pre-Golovkin, and he’s much too heavy now to get back down to 160 without losing muscle weight. It’s beyond the point where Canelo can dehydrate to make 160 like in the old days. He’s now a full-fledged super middleweight at 29.