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.