By Dan Ambrose: Oscar Valdez is predicting a knockout win for Canelo Alvarez over Jermell Charlo inside ten rounds in their coming fight in twelve days from now.
Canelo has shown signs of being on the slide his last several fights, so he’s going to need his cardio in top shape for him to withstand the pressure & the fast pace from Jermell, who is a much different type of fighter whom the Mexican star has been facing in his recent fights.
Valdez sees Jermell (35-1-1, 19 KOs) as having an aggressive style that will cause him to come straight at Canelo, which he’ll take advantage of with his power & counter-punching ability. Canelo hasn’t had a knockout in a while since his fight with Caleb Plant in 2021, and that was a long time ago.
Did the Plant fight ruin Canelo?
Some feel that the grueling fight with Plant took a lot of Canelo, leaving the depleted fighter who lost to Dmitry Bivol last year and labored to wins over 41-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin and John Ryder.
Oscar feels that Jermell is a fighter with a strong will who won’t give up when he starts taking punishment from four-belt super middleweight champion Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) on September 30th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
You have to go by what you’ve seen from Canelo in his last three fights, and it would seem pretty obvious that he’s just a shell of the fighter he’d been from 2021 and earlier.
Alvarez barely beat the fossilized version of Golovkin, and even the British fighter Ryder, who is basically a bottom fringe-level fighter, gave Canelo problems.
Will Canelo gas out?
Alvarez, 33, has been training in the mountains of Lake Tahoe in California, but the training footage hasn’t shown him taking advantage of being in altitude by running the hills.
It appears that Canelo has been training in the mountains, doing what he usually does in camps, and counting on just being at high altitude helping his cardio without him getting outside to run the steep hills.
“Knockout because of styles because they’re both going forward. Charlos not running, and I know Canelo can take a shot,” said Oscar Valdez to Fight Hub TV, discussing the Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo fight.
“We all saw him get hit with that big shot from Golovkin. He literally said no. Canelo is just a strong-built fighter. I don’t see Charlo giving up, being a stronger-willed fighter. Maybe a TKO is more reasonable. I see a knockout for Canelo under 10,” said Valdez.
