By Charles Brun: Canelo Alvarez posted a video of him working out and he’s looking speedy fast in preparation for his fight against Callum Smith 11 days from now on December 19th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Now that Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) has lost some of the muscle that he put on for his last fight against Sergey Kovalev a year ago, he’s looking faster.
The hand speed of Canelo is going to potentially give WBA Super World super middleweight champion Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) fits.
Smith is in for a tough time on December 19th
Callum is calling himself the#1 fighter at 168, but that’s ridiculous. He’s clearly not the best, and a lot of boxing fans got fooled by him winning the World Boxing Super Series tournament in 2018 by beating George Groves in the final.
What many fans fail to realize is Groves was coming off of a bad shoulder injury, and he fought Callum with one good arm. This wasn’t Groves at his best.
11 días más #CanelovsSmith pic.twitter.com/oZDzT8LBKr
— Canelo Alvarez (@Canelo) December 8, 2020
If the 6’3″ Smith is going to win this fight, he’s going to need to nail Canelo with his big left hooks to keep him from getting on the inside against him.
Without something from Smith to dissuade Canelo from going to the inside, he’s going to get chopped into pieces Smith’s last opponent John Ryder was able to get in close all night, and pound him.
Smith looked beaten by the later rounds, and close to being knocked out. Ryder can’t punch like Canelo and he has no hand speed. If Ryder was able to do that to Smith, Canelo will have no problems knocking him out.
Based on how Callum looked against Ryder, you have to demote him far down in the pack in terms of the best 168-pounders.
These are Charles Brun’s best super middleweights:
1. David Benavidez
2. Caleb Plant
3. Edger Berlanga
4. Canelo Alvarez
5. Daniel Jacobs
6. Billy Joe Saunders
7. Callum Smith
Callum Smith confident of victory
“I’ve managed to land the biggest one in my weight division,” said Callum Smith about Canelo. “He’s a top fighter, and I have the honor to share the ring with him.
“How good he is will show how good I am. It’s the toughest one possible for me, but the minute I became world champion, I wanted to fight the biggest fights possible. I didn’t want no routine defenses.
“I wanted to fight the best, and I wanted the unifications and the superstar names, and Canelo Alvarez definitely is. I’m up against it, but I’ve always said the better the opponent the better performance from myself.
“I think I’ve shown during my career that when the chips were down, I’ve always delivered. This one will be one. I think the position he’s in, people demand the biggest fights possible.
“He hasn’t ducked anybody. He’s always fought the top fighters, and I think he’s chosen the toughest fight at 168. I believe I am the best in the world. All the rankings put me at #1. I think I’m the toughest fight for him. I definitely believe I beat him,” said Callum Smith.
It would have been good if Liverpool, England native Smith had given Ryder a rematch and cleared up the controversy surrounding their fight last year.
There are too many boxing fans who saw that contest as a robbery, which doesn’t look good. Canelo choosing to fight Callum on the heels of his questionable victory over Ryder makes the Mexican star look like an opportunist taking advantage of a fighter who is clearly overhyped by people. It happens in boxing.
Fans get excited when they see a fighter mow down a bunch of stiffs, and they fail to understand that what they’re seeing is a mirage.