Mairis Briedis calls out Canelo Alvarez to come up to cruiserweight!
After completing his mission of becoming the first-ever super middleweight undisputed champion, after knocking out Caleb Plant in eleven rounds on November 6, Canelo Alvarez (57-1-2, 39KOs), boxing’s number one pound for pound fighter and cash cow, is a wanted man with a plethora of options. While a return to middleweight, light heavyweight or staying put at super middleweight are all viable options, could Alvarez venture up past the 175-pound division? IBF cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis (28-1, 20KOs) would hope so.
A BIGGER CHALLENGE AWAITS HIM?!
When you’re on top of the boxing world, fighters from many different weight classes will throw their name in the hat as a possible opponent, even if that sometimes makes no sense. This is something Alvarez knows; fighting him brings career-high paydays and a newfound recognition. So it should not be surprising that he’s being called out by fighters significantly bigger than he is.
Mairis Briedis is the latest man to express interest in fighting Alvarez. While this isn’t a bout that many people had on their radar as a possibility, now one has to ponder what a bout between these two skilled fighters would look like. Briedis, a three-time cruiserweight champion, has a wealth of experience in big fights.
He’s faced the likes of former longtime cruiserweight champion Marco Huck, former undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk as well as former champions Yuniel Dorticos and Krzysztof Glowacki.
RELATED: Mairis Briedis Takes Yuniel Dorticos’ Title & Wins WBSS Tournament
The man from Riga, Latvi took to his Instagram account to issue a challenge to the Mexican superstar. In his statement, he vowed that a fight with him would be a proper challenge, insinuating that previous challenges from past opponents weren’t up to par.
WOULD THE FIGHT MAKE SENSE?
On paper, this fight would be viewed as a physical mismatch. Briedis stands at 6’1 with a 75-inch reach. Compared to Alvarez who is all of 5’8 with a 70.5-inch reach. To go along with all the physical advantages he would have over Alvarez is a superb skillset mixed with beautiful boxing and power punching. To sum things up simply, this would be no easy night for the newly crowned undisputed super middleweight champion.
However, being a realist, I don’t see this fight happening, whatsoever. It makes no sense for Alvarez at the moment unless he really wanted to challenge himself in extremely foreign territory. On the flipside, one can’t blame Briedis for throwing the challenge out there. When you see Canelo, you see money.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
