GGG’s promoter: Canelo has tough fight against Smith

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By Dan Ambrose: Gennady Golovkin’s trainer Tom Loeffler believes that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has a tough fight on his hands in his title challenge against WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) on September 17 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Loeffler isn’t saying that Canelo will lose to Smith, but he still sees this as a very, very tough fight for Canelo. The weight alone will be a battle for Canelo to prove that he can get down to 154 on fight night. Canelo hasn;t fought at junior middleweight for three years despite the fact that Golden Boy Promotions are saying that he’s a junior middleweight. It’s hard to buy into that argument when your fighter isn’t fighting in that weight class.

The fight is perceived by many boxing fans as an easy fight for the heavier, more powerful Canelo, who will be coming down in weight one pound from his normal weight at 155lbs. Losing an extra pound could be difficult for Canelo, because he’s already rehydrating into the 170s and some think the 180s. We’re talking about a fighter that will be losing 20 to 25 pounds of water weight to make weight for his match against Smith.

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Rosado vs. Saunders possible for Canelo-Smith card

Image: Rosado vs. Saunders possible for Canelo-Smith card

By Dan Ambrose: #13 WBC former world title challenger Gabriel Rosado (23-9, 13 KOs) reportedly is in the running for a fight against unbeaten WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) on the undercard of the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Liam Smith card on September 17 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Golden Boy Promotions are looking to add Saunders to the undercard of the fight card with the possible idea of matching Canelo against him later this year in December or at some point in the near future.

Golden Boy wants to move Canelo up to middleweight soon, and a fight against Saunders is thought to be Canelo’s first at the full weight of 160 pounds.

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GBP still wants Saunders for Canelo vs. Smith card

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By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions are hoping to add WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders for the September 17 card headlined by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Golden Boy vice president Eric Gomez is reportedly trying to work a deal to get Saunders on the undercard against an opponent still to be determined.

This would potentially help setup an eventual fight between Canelo and Saunders at some point in the future for his WBO middleweight title. It would make the young Canelo look good if he can be seen taking two scalps back to back in winning the WBO 154lb strap from Liam Smith and then the WBO 160lb belt from Saunders.

I think it’s a smart move by Golden Boy if they can swing it. However, the money would have to be worth it for Saunders to fight on the undercard of the Canelo-Smith card. Saunders is a popular fighter, and he obviously wouldn’t go for the idea of fighting for chump change on an undercard.

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De La Hoya: Canelo is fighting the best 154 pound fighter

Image: De La Hoya: Canelo is fighting the best 154 pound fighter

By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya is claiming that his fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will be fighting the best junior middleweight in the division on September 17 in his fight against WBO 154lb champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs).

De La Hoya says that the reasons why they selected Smith for Canelo is because he’s an undefeated champion and the best fighter in the division. It’s interesting that De La Hoya sees the 27-year-old Smith as the No.1 fighter at junior middleweight, because that belief runs counter to how the boxing world sees him.

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Canelo: I’ll move to 160 when my body tells me

Image: Canelo: I’ll move to 160 when my body tells me

By Dan Ambrose: Former two-division world champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) says he’s not sure when he’ll be making his move up in weight to the middleweight division. He says he’ll wait until his body tells him to make the move. What this means is that Canelo could opt to stay at 154 longer than people thought he would.

Canelo surprised boxing fans recently when he chose to move off his self-created 155lb division to sign for a title fight against WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) for a fight on September 17 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

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Canelo hoping for 88,000 fans for Liam Smith fight

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By Patrick McHugh: Former WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) is expecting a huge crowd for his next fight against unbeaten WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) on September 17 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Canelo says he’s hoping that his September 17th fight against Liam Smith will sellout the 88,000 seat stadium. That number is devoid of reality unfortunately. Hopefully that wasn’t a number that Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya put in his head because it’s just not reality based. This is Texas and the fans aren’t in the dark ages and not aware of high quality or low quality fights. Liam Smith has hand picked written all over him. There’s nothing wrong with the 27-year-old Smith being hand-picked, but you don’t want the young kid Canelo dreaming of the stadium being filled with 88,000 fans either, because it’ll be too much of a let down for him when he gets out there on September 17 and sees the AT&T Stadium looking more or less like a ghost town.

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Canelo: I’ll eventually fight Golovkin

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By Allan Fox: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) has taken some fierce criticism for failing to take on IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Canelo said today that he will be taking on Golovkin eventually. He doesn’t say when the fight will happen. The only thing that Canelo is saying is that the fight will eventually happen in time.

“We’re focused on my career and taking the next step and moving forward and eventually that fight’s going to happen (with Golovkin). It’s going to happen. It will happen,” said Canelo to Ringtv.com.

This is exactly what Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya has been saying about the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. De La Hoya has been saying this for more than a year now. It’s become forlorn with De La Hoya repeating the same thing over and over again. Now we’ve got Canelo parroting the same line.

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Liam Smith not afraid of Canelo Alvarez

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By Dan Ambrose: WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith says he won’t be going into the ring afraid of Saul Canelo Alvarez when the two of them meet two months from now on September 17 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Smith says he’s going to be going into this fight like Floyd Mayweather Jr. did in his match against Canelo three years ago. Mayweather wasn’t afraid of the younger, stronger and bigger Canelo. He easily beat Canelo on two of the judges’ scorecards and was held to a draw on the third scorecard.

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De La Hoya explains why Canelo is fighting Liam Smith

canelo#1By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya says the reason why Golden Boy’s flagship fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) is fighting WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) on September 17 rather than the other junior middleweight champions is that he feels that Smith is the “best champion at 154 pounds.”

De La Hoya says that Canelo is a “natural 154 pounder’ and not a full middleweight despite the fact that he’s been fighting at middleweight for the past two years in all of his fights.

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Liam Smith to force Canelo to fight at fast pace

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBO junior middleweight champion Liam “Beefy” Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) believes that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) will struggle to get down to 154 for their fight on September 17. Smith says the 25-year-old Canelo will have problems in the second half of the fight in losing that extra pound. It’s possible that Smith is correct about that, but I’m not sure that he’s going to be able to take advantage of that.

Smith plans on forcing Canelo to fight at a fast pace for three minutes of every round rather than letting him have frequent rest breaks. Canelo likes to fight in bursts. He rests in between those bursts either in the center of the ring or against the ropes. Canelo tends to take a lot of rest breaks.

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