By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez let Gennadiy Golovkin and the fans know last Saturday night that he’s not running from GGG after beating what he purported to be the#1 fighter at 168 in Callum Smith in San Antonio, Texas.
The boxing public is already tired of Canelo’s excuses for why he’s not facing GGG, and they’re less than enthused at seeing him beating mediocre champions like Callum Smith (27-1, 19 KOs), who spent 12 rounds perched against the ropes taking a beating.
After proclaiming himself as the #1 guy, which still hasn’t been proved, Canelo said this to his interpreter: “I don’t run from nobody. I just showed that I fought against the best.”
“Of course, if he is going to take that fight, I’ll take it. But I showed the world that I fight against the best,” said Canelo.
Canelo sending mixed messages
He’s not saying that he’ll fight GGG again, only that that he doesn’t “run from nobody.” I got a question. What good is it for Canelo to say that he’s not running from GGG when he’s not going to fight him?
Canelo is saying he’s not running from Triple G, and yet in the next sentence, he’s talking about wanting to unify all the belts against the 168-lb champions.
Alvarez might as well not even mentioned Golovkin’s name at all, right? Unless you’re going to fight GGG, why tell him and the fans that you’re not running?
Well, if Canelo isn’t running from anybody, why did he flee from the 175-pound division without taking on IBF/WBC champion Artur Beterbiev?
It sure did look like Canelo ran from the unbeaten light heavyweight King Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs), didn’t it?
After winning an easy title against the shot to pieces, 37-year-old WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, Canelo vacated the belt and left the 175lb division at warp speed rather than face Beterbiev.
Canelo didn’t even stick around to face the #2 guy Dimitry Bivol, so what does that tell you?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news for the misguided Alvarez, but he did NOT beat the best with his defeat of Callum. He beat another paper champion and clearly won of the worst at 168.
Canelo says he wants to finish grabbing all the titles at 168 before going in another direction with his career.
Fans want to see Canelo vs. Golovkin III
The biggest payday out there for Canelo is still Golovkin, and it’s not just the money. That’s the fight that boxing fans want to see. They don’t care about seeing Canelo face WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, who is a complete unknown with casual boxing fans in the U.S.
The fans aren’t interested in seeing Canelo fight IBF champion Caleb Plant either, who has no experience yet against high-caliber opposition.
Canelo’s decision-making appears calculated to put himself in winning situations where he’s facing guys that are little to no threat to beating him.
At this point, it seems obvious that Canelo will fight WBO belt-holder Saunder (30-0, 14 KOs) next.
“Canelo well done now 2021 unification, let’s get it on,” said Saunders in congratulating Canelo with a Tweet last Saturday after his win over Smith.
If Canelo wants to fight the best super middleweights, he needs to ignore the paper champions Saunders and Plant and focus on the real talent in the division.
These are clearly the best fighters at 168:
- Edgar Berlanga
- Bektemir Melikuziev
- Dimitry Bivol
Why doesn’t Canelo want to fight them? I have a pretty good idea. They’re too good, and Canelo doesn’t want to get beaten again.