By Doug Gillen: Canelo Alvarez says he plans on retiring in five more years when he turns 35 because he wants to focus on business and golf. Canelo, 30, will play it by ear and see how his body feels in the next five years.
Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) has an important fight coming up in less than two weeks against WBA Super World super middleweight champion Callum Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) on December 19th.
The two champions will be headlining on DAZN from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This is a pivotal fight for the former four-division world champion Alvarez, seeing that he’s facing a quality opponent.
Canelo’s only other fight at 168 came against Rocky Fielding in 2018, and he blew him out in three rounds. Callum did a better job in destroying Fielding in one round in
Smith, 30, is perceived by boxing fans as Canelo’s first real test above the 160-lb weight class.
Canelo’s experience above 160 is limited to these fighters:
- Rocky Fielding
- Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
- Sergey Kovalev
“My aim is to retire at 35, but let’s see what my body says,” said Canel Alvarez via The Sun. “If it’s still strong and ready to continue fighting for two or three years.
“But my aim is to retire at 35 and dedicate myself to my business and playing golf.”
If Callum knocks Canelo out, he could speed up his retirement plans and potentially hasten his decision. You can make an argument that Canelo hasn’t faced anyone good at 168 or 175.
Canelo chose not to take an easy fight at 168 against Fielding rather than face dangerous fighters in that weight class. David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, and Callum are guys that Canelo could have fought but didn’t.
Callum has the game plan to win
“You can’t go too much about that. He’s had two fights above 160, and he knocked out Sergey Kovalev, and he knocked out Rocking Fielding,” Callum Smith said to Morning Kombat about Canelo.
“In terms of performances, I think the Kovalev fight was a lot closer than what people give Kovalev credit. The finish was a great finish.
“But in terms of the fight, I don’t think it was the best Canelo we’ve seen for a long time, but he got the job done.
“I do think the best version of him is at 160, but we don’t know if 168 is his best division. But for me, so far, the best version of Canelo we’ve seen is at 160.
“I’ve got to wait and see,” said Smith when asked what role his huge seven-inch height advantage will play against Canelo. “It wouldn’t be an advantage if I didn’t use it.
“At the highest levels, some of it will be at close quarters, and some of it will be at a distance. I’ve got to be prepared for whatever Canelo turns up. I’ve got a plan A and a plan B.
“I’ll just pull it off on the night, and with the ability and stylistically, I have the beating of him. I’m in this fight to win it. I believe on December 20th, I’ll wake up still a world champion,” said Callum.
For Smith’s sake, his game plan needs to be for him to keep Canelo bottled up on the outside.
The 6’3″ Smith has a seven-inch height advantage over the 5’8″ Canelo, and he needs to try and utilize that. In Smith’s last fight against the 5’8″ John Ryder, he did a horrible job keeping him on the outside.
Smith wants the fame from beating Canelo
“It would be nice to have a full capacity crowd with fans, but just to get a fight this year is a plus,” Callum Smith said. “I can’t complain.
“There will be fans there, even if they’re Canelo’s. As fighters, we like the crowds because it gives us that little bit of adrenalin rush. The goal is to win regardless of how many people turn up.
“To be known on the world stage, to be fighting someone like Canelo and beating Canelo, it would put my name put all over the world.
“He’s a superstar in boxing. These are the people you want to be in fights against since I turned professional. Canelo is the biggest name possible.
“The big stage turns out big performance, and I believe I will deliver on December 19th.
“The world knows how good Canelo Alvarez is, but I don’t think the world knows how good I am just yet,” said Smith.
A win for Callum would definitely make a name for him and set him up for a second fight with Alvarez.
Two years ago, Smith won the World Boxing Super Series 168lb tourney in beating George Groves, but that went under the radar for most U.S fans.
Groves wasn’t a household name in the U.S, and the casuals largely were unaware of the Smith-Groves fight. It’ll be a completely different story when Smith takes on Canelo on December 19th.
American boxing fans will be watching, and if Smith can beat Alvarez, he’s going to win a lot of new fans.
Callum not worried about being robbed
“It would be nice to get revenge, but if he never boxed before this, it would be huge regardless,” Callum Smith said when asked if he wants to avenge his brother Liam Smith’s loss to Canelo from 2016.
“It’s a big fight, and just beating Canelo would be huge for me and for my family. It would be nice to get some revenge.
“I think Liam knew he lost to a good fighter. Canelo was big for 154. He came down from 160 and then went back up after that.
“I think that played a part in that fight. He was huge on the night, but my brother had success in the fight.
“Canelo has won a lot of his fights, but he’s lost rounds against certain fighters. I believe I’m as good as anyone he’s fought previously. I can take rounds off of him.
“Yeah, you hear stories [about Canelo receiving favorable treatment by the judges], but if I saw someone else fighting him, I’d say they need to go in there and knock him out,” said Smith.
“But when it’s you, you never really feel it’s going to happen to you. If it’s close and the bell goes, I believe I’ll get the decision.
“I can’t change my game plan and become reckless and try and finish him when I feel that if I do enough on points, I’ll get the decision over there,” said Smith.
With the boxing fans that will be watching the fight on December 19th on DAZN, Smith is in a good position to get are rematch if he loses a controversial decision to Alvarez.
Canelo gave Gennadiy Golovkin a rematch after his controversial draw against him. Unfortunately, Canelo made Golovkin wait for a year before he did fight him again, which looked like he was aging him.