Malignaggi says Alvarez still draws, but younger super middleweights present tougher tests ahead of potential September return
Paulie Malignaggi believes Canelo Alvarez can still headline major events, but says the challenge at 168 has changed with younger champions now in place. As Alvarez eyes a September return, the question is whether he can still handle the division’s current belt holders.
He pointed to the names around the division and made it clear that younger belt holders and fresh contenders now present a different problem than the versions Canelo used to face during his title reigns.
Malignaggi mentioned 168-lb champions Christian Mbilli and Jose Armando Resendiz, as well as Hamzah Sheeraz.
“He’s young, he’s got strong, you can come off that loss and a long layoff and be that age and fight Resendiz and you and and and it’s okay,” said Malignaggi to Probox TV about Canelo would be up against fighting WBA champion Resendiz.
“None of these are easy fights for Canelo coming off a long layoff. Neither will really probably ever compete for a real world title again, but they’ve been there and that’s why it’s interesting in the first place.”
If Canelo comes back in September like he’s planning, he says he wants a champion. But if Malignaggi is right, even a guy like Resendiz might be too much engine for a 35-year-old Canelo who has been through as many wars as he has.
You have to admit, there is a massive difference between the Canelo who fought Gennadiy Golovkin in the rematch in 2018 and the one who looked completely out of ideas against Terence Crawford last September.
Malignaggi might be a polarizing guy, but he is looking at the cold reality of the current 168lb landscape. When you look at the guys holding the belts now, it is a different world than the one Canelo used to run.
The division has basically been renovated while Canelo was sidelined with that elbow surgery and the Crawford loss. Christian Mbilli, Osleys Iglesias, and Jose Armando Resendiz now hold titles at 168.
Canelo’s style has become too economical. When you’re 35 and coming off a major elbow surgery, relying on single, loaded-up power shots is a recipe for disaster against the monsters currently holding the belts.
The Crawford fight was a wake-up call. These new 168lb champions are natural super middleweights with engines that don’t stop. If Canelo follows through with his plan to fight a champion on September 12 in Saudi Arabia, he is looking at a completely different physical challenge than a Crawford chess match.
Since the second Golovkin fight, the resume has been a bit of a strategic masterpiece rather than a competitive one. Taking on Avni Yildirim, Billy Joe Saunders, and Caleb Plant allowed him to unify, but none of those guys had the firepower to truly hurt him.
Even the Berlanga and Munguia fights felt like high-level exhibitions designed to keep the money rolling without the risk.
The two times Canelo actually stepped outside that comfort zone against elite, dangerous talent, Dmitry Bivol and Crawford, he was beaten.
