By Sean Jones: Oscar De La Hoya is disappointed with the recent disappointing ratings for boxing events, and he feels that the sport badly needs Canelo Alvarez to return to give it a boost. The Golden Boy Promotions boss De La Hoya says he’s working with DAZN to bring Canelo back.
Oscar doesn’t say who DAZN and Golden Boy plan on matching against the popular Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs), who he often refers to as ‘The Face of Boxing.’ The last we heard, Canelo wanted to face Avni Yildirim for the vacant WBC 168-pound title, and DAZN is said to NOT interested in that fight.
If a fight between Canelo and Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs) is who Oscar has in mind, it would be better for Alvarez to stay inactive this year. There is absolutely no interest in a fight between Canelo and the recently twice-beaten Yildirim.
Part of the problem that boxing has is the type of match-making that we’ve seen from Canelo over the years, and it’s only gotten worse recently.
Canelo needs to be facing the likes of Callum Smith, David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, and GGG.
Canelo isn’t the only one that is guilty of soft match-making, but he’s the one that draws the crowds.
Golovkin could do a lot better as well. Rather than wasting people’s time fighting an unknown guy like Kamil Szeremeta, he should be giving Sergiy Derevyanchenko a rematch.
If Canelo doesn’t fight GGG, which is sad, you must admit, then Golovkin should be giving Derevyanchenko a rematch. If you’re DAZN, you can’t be too pleased with hearing that Golovkin wants to fight Szeremeta next. Maybe that fight will do well in Europe, but it probably won’t in the U.S. There’s zero demand for a match between GGG and Szeremeta.
De La Hoya says boxing needs Canelo
That’s the problem. Canelo is cherry-picking a lot of weak opposition rather than taking risks with his carer in facing the guys that boxing fans want to see him battle.
“If anyone doubted how badly boxing needs Canelo – the sport’s biggest star – back in the ring, look no further than the terrible ratings from boxing on network TV the last few weeks,” said @OscarDeLaHoya.
While fans wanted to see Canelo face Gennady Golovkin in a rematch following their thrilling fight in 2018, Alvarez chose instead to face Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev.
The reason why boxing isn’t where it should be right now is because of fighters like Canelo, who choose to take the easier matches rather than take risks. Canelo’s decision to move up to 175 last November was to capture his fourth division world title against WBO champion Kovalev.
You can respect that. But why did Canelo pick Kovalev, an old 36-year-old, who looked utterly shot rather than take on the talented IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev or WBA champ Dmitry Bivol? The fans wanted to see Canelo fight Beterbiev or Bivol, but he went in the opposite direction of those talents and chose the fading Kovalev.
Why did Canelo wait until GGG was 35-years-old before fighting him? Golovkin wanted to fight Canelo years earlier but had to wait for him to decide to face him when he in his mid-30s finally.
“It’s a f**** embarrassment that sports-starved fans are flocking to baseball and the UFC, & largely ignoring the greatest sport in the world.
“I have been working tirelessly day and night with our partners at DAZN to get a Canelo fight done ASAP and get our sport back on track,” said De La Hoya.
Better match-making needed
A lot of the problems in the sport of boxing stem from the way that promoters match-up their fighters, and the networks aren’t checking them on their match-making.
The promotional companies and the top boxers themselves are unwilling to take risks by fighting better opposition in a lot of cases. As such, instead of great fights being made between the best, the fans are subjected to mismatches involving subpar fighters going up against an elite-level fighter.
Floyd Mayweather Jr was a great talent, but he was involved in a lot of mismatches during his career that arguably angered fans. Mayweather’s high-priced pay-per-view contests against Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor failed to deliver excitement, and a lot of people felt like they’d been ripped off by paying $100 to watch Floyd play it safe in boring fights.
Another example is Canelo’s recent fight against Kovalev. That was a horrible fight to watch, as Kovalev looked old and feeble, and it made Canelo look like he’d selected him purposefully picked him to make sure he’d win. Canelo should have fought the best like Beterbiev or Bivol rather than another old lion.
While Canelo is a famous fighter, he doesn’t take risks with his career by fighting guys when they’re at their best. He didn’t face Miguel Cotto until he was 35 and didn’t face Shane Mosley until he was 40. Why did Canelo wait so long to fight Cotto and Mosley? Was it so that he could avoid a loss?
It’s not going to help the sport of boxing if Canelo comes back in 2020 and faces Avni Yildirim. That’s a horrible fight, and if anything, it’s going to turn fans away.