By Dan Ambrose: Eddie Hearn states that there won’t be a rehydration clause for the December 19th fight between superstar Canelo Alvarez and Callum Smith.
Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) chose not to ask for one in the contract, and Hearn says he’s not sure that it would have been accepted by Smith(27-0, 19 KOs) if he had.
For Canelo not to ask for a rehydration clause shows that he’s confident of winning.
Also, Hearn suspects that Hearn will want to rehydrate the 10+ lbs after he makes weight, and he won’t want to deal with getting up early in the morning on the day of the fight to weigh-in again as part of the secondary weight check.
Not surprisingly, Canelo, 30, made sure to include a rematch clause, but Hearn says something expected. He says all Canelo fights have a rematch clause in the contract.
Smith’s WBA Super World super middleweight title and the Ring Magazine strap will be up for grabs when he and Alvarez meet for their headline bout at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Canelo didn’t request a rehydration clause
“We sold eight thousand on the first day in Texas. We’re set up for 11,000, so it’s virtually sold out already,” said Eddie Hearn on the ticket sales for Callum vs. Smith on December 19th.
“We’re in the Alamodome, which holds 60,000. We’d love more tickets in play, but unfortunately, we need the distancing and everything to be safe.
“It’s just great to see fans back. The day before Canelo-Callum Smith is GGG-Szeremeta in Florida at the Hard Rock, so hopefully, we can get some there as well.
“No,” said Hearn when asked if there’s a rehydration clause in the contract for Canelo vs. Callum. “It was not requested by Canelo Alvarez. I’m not sure that it would have been accepted,” said Hearn.
The fact that Canelo is coming down from 175 for this fight with Callum Smith, it’s not a shock that he doesn’t want to deal with a rehydration clause.
Canelo showed in his last fight against former WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev that he fights better when he’s heavier.
Dealing with a rehydration clause might weaken Canelo, which he doesn’t need going up against a tremendous puncher like Callum Smith. For Canelo to win this fight, he’ll need all the power he can get to beat the 6’3″ Smith.
What’s worrisome for Canelo is the way that past his best 36-year-old Kovalev was able to outbox him for 10 rounds before running out of gas in the 11th and getting stopped.
If a partially shot Kovalev was able to do that to Canelo, what will a prime Smith do to him? Callum has the size, jab, and overall boxing skills to dominate the shorter 5’8″ Canelo from the outside.
Hearn doubts Canelo wanted to weigh-in on the morning of the fight
“To be honest with you, there was a stage where Canelo Alvarez was a small 168-pounder, but don’t forget that his last fight was at 175 pounds,” said Hearn.
“So I don’t think Canelo Alvarez wants to get up at 7:00 in the morning on fight day and reweigh.
“Callum is a massive 168, and he’ll definitely be heavier than Canelo on the night. But don’t underestimate Canelo’s size.
“I know he’s shorter, but he’ll want to rehydrate properly himself, and it wasn’t something that was requested.
“I think if Canelo were bothered about 10-pound rehydration, he would have asked for it.
“It would have to be reciprocal. It wouldn’t be, ‘You have to weigh in.’ We both have to weigh in, and I guess he doesn’t want to re-weigh-in. He wants his opportunity to rehydrate more than ten pounds,” Hearn said.
It’s reasonable to assume that Canelo didn’t want any part of a secondary weight check on the fight morning.
If he were younger, less confident, and better able to handle withholding fluids until the day of the fight, he’d probably have insisted on a rehydration clause.
Canelo is now 30-years-old, and he’s coming down from 175, and the last thing he needs is a 10-pound limit to hold him back.
Additionally, Canelo will have been out of the ring for over a year by the time he fights Smith on December 19th, and that would make it even tougher for him to handle a rehydration limit.
Hearn says rematch clause included for Canelo vs. Smith
“Yes,” Hearn said when asked if there’s a rematch clause for Canelo. “That’s standard for all Canelo fights. “I’ve never been involved in a Canelo fight where there wasn’t a rematch clause,” said Hearn.
For newbie boxing fans not clear on the subject, this is a rematch clause that works for Canelo but NOT for Smith.
In other words, if Canelo loses the fight, he can execute the rematch clause in his contract to force Smith to give him a rematch rather than walk away.
But if Canelo is victorious, Smith can’t force Canelo to give him a rematch. The rematch clause only works for Canelo. It’s kind of silly, though, because Smith wouldn’t need to be forced to give Canelo a rematch if he beat him.
He’d likely want to fight him over and over because there’s so much money in facing him. It’s not as if Smith would want to disappear after beating Canelo and then turn around and take a smaller payday fight against John Ryder, Caleb Plant, or Billy Joe Saunders.
Canelo is the top rung when it comes to the money he can bring to Smith or any fighter, which is why a rematch clause doesn’t make sense. But a rematch clause is good in terms of the financial picture.
With the rematch clause spelling out how much the purse split will be for the rematch, Canelo would get a far better deal than he would if he were to negotiate from scratch in a position of weakness after losing to Smith. That’s why rematch clauses work so well for A-side fighter.
They could lock in a favorable split of the revenue for themselves that they normally wouldn’t be able to if they started the negotiations as the loser.