By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez will have a world of trouble with the massive size of the 6’0″ Jermell Charlo on September 30th, according to trainer Kenny Ellis.
Kenny, the coach for Gervonta Davis, points out that Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) has been fighting small, old fighters and taking it easy to avoid losses during his career.
Canelo’s habit of fighting older guys at or near the end of their careers has been more of a factor than his fighting smaller guys.
Older fighters Canelo has fought:
- Gennadiy Golovkin x 3
- Sergey Kovalev
- Miguel Cotto
- Erislandy Lara
- Shane Mosley
- Floyd Mayweather Jr.
- Ryan Rhodes
- Alfredo Angulo
- Daniel Jacobs
- Kermit Cintron
- Lovemore Ndou
- Carlos Baldomir
- Jose Miguel Cotto
That’s 15 fights in Canelo’s 63-fight career in which he’s fought older guys, and that’s just the notable fighters. If one were to go through Canelo’s entire resume, you could probably find another 10 to 15 older fighters to add to that list.
It won’t be like that when Canelo gets in the ring with Jermell, who is not only young, but he’ll have identical height & reach of WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, who did a number on Alvarez last year.
Jermell will straight dog Canelo
“I think his size is going to make a difference because Canelo has been picking them over the years,” said Kenny Ellis to MillCity Boxing about Jermell Charlo’s size giving Canelo problems on September 30th.
“He [Canelo] has been fighting small blown-up dudes at the end of their careers. Now, he’s got a strong force [Jermell] coming in. It’s different. You ain’t going to get it right the first time, and you’re used to fighting small guys.”
It would have meant more if Canelo had fought Gennadiy Golovkin earlier in his career instead of waiting until he was 36 and showing signs of fading after his fight with Kell Brook.
“He went up and fought Bivol, and I guess he thought he was going to outclass Bivol. Bivol had that brute strength and walked right through him,” said Ellis.
Bivol didn’t walk through Canelo’s shots. He boxed him, staying on the outside, throwing jabs, and then machine-gunning him with combinations.
If Bivol had chosen to walk through Canelo’s punches to really put it on him, he likely would have stopped him because he was gassed out by the third round.
“He [Canelo] didn’t lose his last fight he fought. This mediocre dude [John Ryder] was touching him all night. Charlo is way better than that dude,” said Ellis.
John Ryder was supposedly picked out to give Canelo a tune-up after his left wrist surgery. However, many boxing fans believe that Ryder was picked out so that Canelo could avoid the rematch with Bivol, as it was clear that he wanted no part of fighting the unbeaten Russian talent after what happened to him a year ago.
“Yeah, straight dog him,” said Ellis when asked if Jermell can make adjustments against Canelo. “I think Charlo has got the skills to box him. He can bang, and he can box. I think he can pull it off,” Ellis said.
Canelo has been protected
“I’ve never been impressed by Canelo. I don’t mean to offend nobody, but I’ve never been impressed with him,” Kenny said. “They got certain fighters that they protect. The casual fans don’t see that. They don’t know.”
Canelo’s reputation of being a protected fighter has come from controversial decisions, WBC giving him the Franchise tag to avoid fighters, and the way he’s swerved David Benavidez & David Morrell Jr. Also, making Gennadiy Golovkin wait until he was 36 before fighting him.
“They don’t know who they fighting. No disrespect, but that’s just my opinion,” said Ellis. “They always made Canelo when he fought. When Floyd beat him, he was too young.
“He was 22 years old when Floyd did it, but Floyd got the belt at 21. [Felix] Trinidad got the belt at 21. Tyson got the belt at 22. They had Sugar Ray [Leonard] at 21.
“When all the greats did it at 21, 22, but he [Canelo] failed; he was too young at 22. That s**t ain’t right. I see all that, but the casual fans don’t. They just see that he lost at 22.
“‘He was a baby at 22.’ Nobody else was a baby at 22. Crawford did it at 22 against an undefeated champion [Ricky Burns],” said Ellis.
In other words, there’s been a double standard when it came to Canelo losing early in his career. Canelo’s fans used his age to give him a pass for his loss to then 36-year-old Mayweather.
