By Dan Ambrose: Roy Jones Jr. says Oleksandr Usyk is “Too big” for Canelo Alvarez and would beat him “EASY” if he moved back down to cruiserweight to face him in a money fight. However, Roy doesn’t see any point in Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) returning to the cruiserweight division to fight Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) unless he’s going to get a ton of money.
Jones says IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Usyk can get paid well by staying where he’s at and facing former champion Anthony Joshua in a rematch, and then Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.
Usyk and Joshua will meet for a rematch in April in a lucrative fight in either the UK or the Middle East.
Other than that, the only explanation for the former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk dropping back down to his old weight class would be if the fight with Canelo pays him more than what he can get facing Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs).
Jones thinks it could negatively impact Usyk’s body to lose a bunch of weight to return to the 200-lb cruiserweight limit because he would need to slim down.
Roy Jones Jr. says Usyk beats Canelo “EASY”
Canelo’s performance against a shot WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and his last two fights against Caleb Plant and Billy Joe Saunders showed that he doesn’t carry the weight well in either of those two weight classes.
If Canelo bulks up to fight Usyk at cruiserweight, his movement and punch output will likely drop off badly, making him a sitting duck for the 2012 Olympic gold medalist’s punches.
Canelo would get more respect from boxing fans in taking on Usyk than the WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu because the Ukrainian fighter was the #1 guy in that division before moving up to heavyweight in 2018.
In contrast, Makabu is arguably the WORST of the five cruiserweight champions.
Indeed, cruiserweight contenders Murat Gassiev and Yuniel Dorticos would also likely have no trouble beating Makabu. Canelo’s decision in choosing him to face to try and become a five-division world champion is a short-sighted move.
“Usyk has no reasons to come down [to cruiserweight] to fight Canelo,” said Roy Jones Jr. to iFL TV. “To me, Usyk is too big for Canelo. So, Usyk beats Canelo EASY, in my opinion.
“But Usyk is the heavyweight champion of the world, so why would you go back down to cruiserweight when you’re the heavyweight champion of the world?” Jones continued.
“Look what happened when Chad Dawson went down from light heavyweight to fight Andre Ward at 168. That was the end of his career,” said Jones about why it’s a BAD idea for Usyk to come back down to cruiserweight.
“Why would you do that to yourself when you have Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, you got Anthony Joshua again, and you got so many big guys in your weight class that.
“You’re champion right now that it makes no sense unless you’re going to make way more money fighting this guy [Canelo], which is not because you vs. Fury right now is probably one of the biggest fights on the planet.
“You vs. Joshua again is also a big fight. Now, if you want to use that fight for negotiating tool, that makes sense because they’re not paying you enough for the rematch for Joshua. If you’re getting double that to fight Canelo, then you’re right. You should go down to fight Canelo,” said Jones about Oleksandr.
“But if it ain’t that, I think it’s all about a business decision. If there’s more money you can make fighting somebody else, a double, okay, but why would you sacrifice or gamble on the chance of getting beat because you lost the weight [to go down to cruiserweight] when all you have to do is stay where you’re at and dominate,” Jones said.
Usyk gains nothing in coming back down to cruiserweight to fight Canelo aside from a payday, and that’s not reason enough. The boxing world would give Usyk no credit for beating Canelo because he’s a tiny petite 5’8″ tank, and it wouldn’t be sporting.
Unlike Makabu, Usyk has talent, and he would be a terrible nightmare for Canelo and would likely embarrass him badly.
Canelo has nothing to gain fighting Usyk
As far as trying to win another belt, yeah, Canelo gains nothing by fighting Usyk at cruiserweight. If that’s Canelo’s entire focus, facing Usyk wouldn’t help him achieve his goal of becoming a five-division world champion.
But if Canelo wants to build his legacy in a REAL way rather than doing it shallowly, fighting Usyk is a much more worthy fight than going after the weakest link among the cruiserweight champions against Makabu win his fifth division world title.
This is the end of the line for Canelo once he wins his fifth division world title against Makabu.
His trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso has already said he won’t go up to bridgerweight or heavyweight seeking a sixth division title. However, Canelo would potentially capture a sixth and even a seventh division title by beating WBC bridgerweight champion Oscar Rivas and WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight champion Trevor Bryan.
The boxing public wouldn’t give Alvarez credit for the wins because those guys aren’t well-known.
“In my opinion, why would Canelo want to fight you [Usyk] when you’re a hard fight, and you don’t have a belt right now?” said Roy. “He’s doing it to collect the belts. He’s doing it to become a five-weight champion. You’re a heavyweight champion. You’re not a cruiserweight champion. So you fighting at cruiserweight is no belt at stake.
“I don’t really know, but as I said, he’s [Usyk] probably using it as a negotiating tool because they’re probably not paying him what he wants for the Joshua fight, so he’s right,” said Jones Jr. when asked if Usyk were kidding when he said he would come down to cruiserweight to fight Canelo.
“‘f I can make a Canelo fight and make double or triple the money, why would I not?’ So it makes sense. So he may not be just wolfing. It may be for real,” said Jones about Usyk.