By Allan Fox: Canelo Alvarez reveals that Floyd Mayweather Jr first offered to fight him when he was just 18 years old when he was a fledgling four-year professional with only four years of experience in 2009.
Canelo’s wisened trainer Eddy Reynoso advised him against taking the fight against the then prime version of Mayweather and choose to wait, which is what the popular Mexican fighter did. Alvarez says Mayweather offered him $1 million to take the fight at the time.
Four years later, still vastly inexperienced and never having fought quality opposition, the 22-year-old Canelo fought Mayweather in 2013 at age 22, making “10 times” that amount. Canelo’s official purse was $5 million, while Mayweather got $41 million.
Unfortunately for Canelo, it didn’t end well for him, as he was taken to school by the 36-year-old Mayweather, losing a twelve round majority decision by the scores 114–114, 116–112, and 117–111.
Whatever chance Canelo had of winning, he threw it out the window by agreeing to a 152-lb catchweight, which left him looking drained at the weigh-in.
In hindsight, it was inexperience on Canelo’s part to agree to the catchweight because he could have gotten the fight if he had held firm at 154 or even requested that it take place at 160, which is what he should have done.
Canelo rehydrated to 165 lbs for the fight, whereas Mayweather came into the ring a much lighter 150 lbs.
“They offered me the fight when I was 18. $One million. At that time, I was earning $5K,” said Canelo Alvarez to DAZN Boxing about Floyd Mayweather Jr trying to get a fight with him back in 2009 when he first turned professional but was still popular.
“I was still getting the bus; I had three jobs. Eddy Reynoso said, ‘In a few years, you will receive 10x that.’ That’s what happened,” said Canelo.
Sadly, Canelo never got the opportunity to fight Mayweather when he was in his prime in 2017 to 2021, when he was winning world titles at 160 & 168.
Mayweather never showed interest in fighting Canelo again, even though he would have made massive money, much more than what he’s getting with his exhibition matches against Youtubers, influencers, MMA fighters, and obscure people that few fans have ever heard of or seen before.
Some would say that Mayweather is an example of a cherry-picking opportunist, who spots an opportunity to make easy money against a popular novice, and then pounces like a vulture.
