Canelo Alvarez will have DOUBLE home court advantage against Callum Smith!
Going into his next battle, WBA “Super” world middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KO’s) will enjoy a double-dose of home court advantage. Now, instead of only traveling to America, his UK adversary, WBA “Super” world super middleweight Callum “Mundo” Smith (27-0, 19 KO’s), will face Alvarez in the Alamodome.
The venue located in San Antonio, Texas, has earned the unofficial moniker of “Little Mexico.” That is due to the tremendous of amount of Mexicans who live in the area and regularly patronize the venue. This overwhelming demographic will heavily favor the Mexican born Canelo since it’s been announced there will be fans in attendance.
REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED HERE?
Besides the overly large support Canelo will garner from the Mexican populace, the venue is home to one of the biggest robberies in boxing History! In 1993, two very popular fighters came together. Then three-division champion and undefeated in 87 bouts, Julio Cesar Chavez took on then two-division champion and current WBC welterweight champion Pernell Whitaker. The fight clearly showed the difference in talent between the two as Whitaker nearly made Chavez look amateurish.
However, due to the popularity of Chavez and the majority of a 65,000 person audience rooting for him, the bout was declared a draw. This did not go over well with the boxing public. In fact, this result is still talked about as one of the biggest discrepancies in judgement of all-time! Sports Illustrated even featured Whitaker on the cover of their September 1993 issue with the words “ROBBED” at the bottom!
RELATED: Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker Dies at 55!
Many more terrible decisions have taken place in San Antonio featuring Latino fighters with much less of a fanbase. Therefore, Smith could be striving for a near impossible victory…but we digress.
SO FAR, SO GOOD!
Although, Smith is no push-over. No one doubts that fact. Despite that notion, since the announcement of the fight, he has nearly universally been viewed as the underdog. Clearly there are a few significant factors working against him.
To begin, the last minute fight contract only allotted him a little over a month to train for the high stakes duel. Now, the undeniable backyard nature of the prizefight has presented yet another hurdle for him to hop.
Prior to his upcoming showdown with Alvarez, Mundo has only professionally competed outside of his native UK four times. However, two of those prizefights did take place in America. The first time was against Abraham Hernandez back on August 16, 2014.
The second time was on June 1, 2019 when he defeated Hassan N’Dam. For what it’s worth, the undefeated Smith won both of his American excursions by way of early stoppage. So Mundo should only have positive memories about fighting in the states.
THE ACID TEST
When they do go head-to-head, both will have been out of the ring for nearly the exact same amount of time; which is just a hair over a year. So if there is any ring rust, both will have to shake off equal amounts. Smith will enjoy a significant height and a two and a half inch reach advantage. Also, the bout will take place in Mundo’s super middleweight division.
Yet, that is where his apparent advantages come to an end. Furthermore, the weight should not be much of an issue considering Canelo has already competed at light heavyweight. Obviously, Smith has every intention and desire to topple Canelo.
But the question is, can he dethrone boxing’s cash-cow on the road in very hostile territory? While the betting odds say “no”, in the end they will have to fight before we know for sure!
By: Bakari Simpson & EJ Williams
