By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez confirms that he plans to unify the 168-lb title division in 2021 and fight three to four times. Alvarez, 30, will fight in February, May, and September.
Unfortunately, Canelo won’t be facing the dangerous guys at 168 in David Benavidez or Edgar Berlanga. Although neither of them holds titles right now, they have a lot of talent and fans want to see Canelo face them.
There’s also a chance that Canelo could fight in December, depending on how things go.
The likely plans for WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Canelo (54-1-2, 36 KOs) in 2021 are as follows:
- Avni Yildirim – February
- Billy Joe Saunders – May
- Caleb Plant – September
There’s a small chance that Canelo might slip in a fight against Gennadiy Golovkin in December, but that’s a long shot. Canelo says he would likely knock Golovkin out if he fought him now because he claims that he’s in his peak now.
Alvarez’s ability to throw more than one punch at a time makes it unlikely that he would have any chance of knocking out Golovkin. Canelo’s work rate has slowed, and his output is now similar to Adrien Broner.
Unfortunately, Canelo doesn’t pack the power at 168 to knock out a fighter like GGG or one of the talented fighters like David Benavidez or Edgar Berlanga.
Canelo still believes he beat Golovkin twice despite boxing fans seeing it the other way. Many fans think Canelo was saved from two losses by the Nevada judges that worked his fights at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo chasing titles at 168 in 2021
“It’s a pretty simple plan for 2021, fight for all of the belts at 168 and fight three times, maybe four,” said Canelo to The Ring. “I want to take all of the titles (at 168).
“My goal is to fight anyone at 168 if they have a title, that’s who I’m going to go after. The goal is February, May, and September. That’s our goal for 2021.”
Certainly, the plans do sound simple for Canelo in 2021, considering the champions at 168 are weak, with Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant holding the last two titles.
Things would be more complicated for Alvarez if the 168lb division were represented by a talented group of champions of the recent past.
Canelo only needs to beat those two flawed champs for him to become the undisputed super middleweight champion. It might have been a different story if David Benavidez still held the WBC 168-lb title.
He lost the belt when he came in two pounds over the limit last August fight for his title defense against challenger Roamer Alexis Angulo.
Benavidez revealed that once he was in the bubble in the week of the fight, he didn’t have access to the things that he normally used to strip off weight. That’s why he came in overweight.
Benavidez is viewed as one of three fighters at 168 that would beat Canelo in the boxing public’s eyes. Canelo didn’t start talking about wanting to unify the super middleweight division until after Benavidez lost his title on the scales.
The other fighters that would likely give Canelo pure trouble are these two talents:
- Bektemir ‘Bully’ Melikuziev
- Edgar Berlanga
Alvarez not thrilled about facing GGG again
“I don’t have to prove anything to anyone, I did my job already by beating him [Golovkin] twice, and right now, I want to stay at 168,” said a bitter sounding Canelo.
“If [Gennadiy] wants to move up, we’ll see what happens, if that’s what the fans really want.
“I’m at 168 and I don’t have to do any favors for anyone. I most likely knock him out and do some serious damage,” said Canelo about Golovkin.
Canelo sounds unhappy when talking about Golovkin for some reason, and it’s unclear why. Could it be that it bothered Canelo that fans think he lost both fights?
The way to clear that up would be for Canelo to get about his goal of becoming the undisputed champion at 168, as the fans don’t care, and they won’t give him credit.
If Canelo wants to clear up the controversy over his past fights with GGG, he’d face him next in a neutral venue outside of Nevada and show that he can conclusively beat him.
Thus far, Canelo has done poorly against GGG, and it could be that the Kazakh has got his number.