By Alex Sharp: Canelo Alvarez proved on Saturday night why he is the number one fighter globally. Nobody can question his achievements or, in my opinion, argue that he should not be at that top spot.
In the last few years, he has received a lot of credit, which is deserved, for fighting bigger guys, massive punchers, and always come out on top.
Callum Smith, Sergey Kovalev, Gennadiy Golovkin, it was suggested all these boxers would have too much power for Canelo, and he proved time after time that he has a great defense and an even better chin against these bigger come forward fighters.
In actual fact, the size issue in the Smith fight was no issue at all as he was able to walk him to the ropes and unload to the body with such ease as he had such a big target.
Fighters like Smith and Kovalev, who usually throw many shots and walk opponents down, were limited to just flicking a weak jab out as they were constantly worried and at massive risk of being countered.
I obviously would not put Golovkin in the same category, as he does have the boxing skills and the power, and I believe he edged the first fight.
Still, Canelo defiantly won the second, but there again, it was another fight where he was always going to have a target to hit.
I, for one, don’t want to see Canelo keep moving up until he finally gets beat by size rather than skill. Vasily Lomachenko suffered this fate, and even though he could have won the fight with Teofimo Lopez was fighting far and away above his weight class.
So when we look for his next opponent, I would like to see someone who will test him differently.
For me, his hardest fights have come against Floyd Mayweather, Erislandy Lara, and Golovkin; the first two fighters used a lot of movement and gave Canelo fits with their boxing skills without ever really hurting him in the fight.
Even when he fought Amir Khan, he did struggle with the movement and the speed of Khan until he caught up to him and knocked out the much smaller man.
This is why I would really like to see Billy Saunders get the fight next with Canelo; I believe his style is much more difficult for him, and his movement with poses another challenge altogether.
We know he can follow a big man around the ring and punish him for 12 rounds. I think too much has been made of people saying Saunders has no power to keep Canelo off him, well who does?
Maybe it will be skills that keep him off and not power. The idea is hit and not be hit after all. I’m not saying that it’s a definite win for Saunders, but I believe it is another type of fighter for Canelo to come up against and one who can actually pose a real threat.
On his day, Saunders is a great boxer who has great movement and range. He has had some questionable performances, but these have all come against lower-level opponents where he has not been motivated.
He always performs well in his biggest fights, and I would like to see him given this opportunity for one.
Canelo is, though, after all the number one pound for pound fighter in the world.
It’s a massive challenge for anyone who steps into the ring with him; I would like to see him fight someone who can make it a competitive fight without him having to move up too far and get beat by size rather than skill.