By Sean Jones: Oscar De La Hoya says 154-pounder Jermell Charlo is even more “dangerous” for Canelo Alvarez than if he’d fought someone else of his “speed,” and he’ll “fight harder” when they square off on September 30th on Showtime PPV.
De La Hoya knows full well what it’s like to face a smaller fighter late in his carer, as Canelo is doing, as he was beaten by Manny Pacquiao in 2008 in an eighth round stoppage.
Pacquiao moved up two weight classes from lightweight to face De La Hoya at welterweight, and he was much too quick for him. De La Hoya was a similar age as Canelo is now, and he was no match for the smaller Pacquiao.
Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) will defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against Jermell, and many boxing fans are predicting the Mexican star will be too big for Charlo.
It’s the same thing we heard when De La Hoya fought Pacquiao. In the build-up to the fight, fans were saying Oscar would crush Pacquiao, as the Filipino star had only recently moved up from super featherweight to lightweight for one fight before facing De La Hoya.
Oscar once again stressed that Canelo is spending too much time playing golf, and not resting or putting in time in the gym. Like a lot of hugely wealthy people, Canelo frequently plays golf.
With over $200 million+ fortune, Canelo can rub shoulders with other wealthy millionaires by playing on exclusive golf courses.
You can argue that Canelo is living the life of a filthy rich retired person now rather than an active one, and that’s a problem for him if he chooses to fight dangerous guys like the Charlo brothers or even the much smaller Errol Spence Jr.
Jermell Charlo dangerous for Canelo
“Undisputed vs. undisputed, it’s great for boxing. People are surprised that he chose the smaller Charlo, but I think the smaller Charlo could be even more dangerous for Canelo because the smaller Charlo has speed and fights harder, and he’s in your face,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype, when asked about his thoughts on Canelo Alvarez choosing 154-lb champion Jermell Charlo for his next fight on September 30th.
Will Canelo be able to handle the speed and the hard fighting style of the smaller Jermell? Many of the hardcore fans feel that Jermell is going to surprise Canelo and take advantage of poor stamina and the fact that he’s no longer capable of throwing combinations.
“So who knows how he’s going to do against Canelo, but I’m pretty sure it”s going to be an entertaining fight. Moving up two weight classes? First of all, I take my hat off to Charlo for doing that.
“I understand that it’s a great payday for him, and he obviously he took that into consideration when making the decision to fight Canelo, but it’s going to be a tough task.
Canelo won’t get credit for beating Jermell
“Two-way divisions is historical if he wins, but two weight divisions, if he loses, he has the perfect excuse. ‘I moved up two weight divisions.’ So it’s a win-win for Charlo, I believe, but I don’t think Canelo wins
anything by beating Charlo,” said De La Hoya.
Jermell has everything to gain and nothing to lose by fighting Canelo, but it’s not the other way around, unfortunately. What does Canelo stand to gain by beating Charlo? Nothing.
He’s going to affirm in the minds of boxing fans that he’s a cherry-picker by hand-picking a smaller fighter while dodging the killers David Benavidez, David Morrell Jr, Artur Beterbiev, and Dmitry Bivol.
“No, it doesn’t make him look bad. I don’t think that it makes Canelo look bad. I just think that it’s not a win-win for Canelo,” said De La Hoya. “That’s it. It’s almost kind of like, ‘Let me win this fight and sharpen up my tools so then I can face Benavidez, or I can face the tougher guys.’
“He’s an old 33,” said De La Hoya about Canelo. “Not because he’s been in wars, but he started professional boxing at 15. So if you’re not, if you’re not focused on just training and taking care of business, and now you’re golfing, it takes a lot out of you.
“You’re out there six hours swinging the club, you’re walking, you’re not resting your body to go to war against somebody. I remember my best trainer I’ve ever had in in my whole career, Choline Rivero, who trained me for the Chavez fight.
“He would tell me, ‘Every time you get a chance to rest your legs, you sit down and rest and stay off your feet.’ He wouldn’t even let me play pool in my own home because I was standing on my feet. So you can imagine the toll it takes on you, especially after you’re 31, 32, or 33 years old. You have to get as much rest as possible, and it does affect the fighter,” said De La Hoya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAhSgKQ5UZs