Why Canelo Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Do Whatever He Wants!
Canelo Alvarez is undoubtedly the biggest star in boxing right now, hands down! The Mexican superstar will face WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev November 2 in Las Vegas.
If victorious, the biggest draw in boxing will become a four division champion, adding even more accolades to an already impressive resume.
However, it has a slightly negative ripple effect for boxing.
THE DOMINO EFFECT
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum has been quoted saying:
“Let him [Canelo] fight who he chooses to fight. He moves the needle in boxing.”
This is true. Although, there is the problem of its effect on the middleweight division. Once, we were a fight away from an undisputed champion. Now, we are about to have four different champions again, putting things right back at the starting line.
Moving up that much weight could jeopardize a trilogy with Gennady Golovkin, unless they agree upon a catch-weight. As a result, all the other champions, if they want a fight, will possibly have to do the same.
This would cause the division to become stagnant. Although, the effect doesn’t just stop there. It can trickle over into other divisions.
DOWNSTREAM RAMIFICATIONS
Undefeated WBA super world super middleweight champion Callum Smith was holding off on a fight with fellow countryman and WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders. He was hoping to land a fight with Alvarez in search of a career-high payday.
Then there is undefeated IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. If victorious against WBC champion Shawn Porter, he is willing to entertain interest expressed by Golden Boy Promotions head honcho Oscar De La Hoya to possibly fight with the Mexican star.
This would delay the match-up against WBO champion Terence Crawford; a fight fans have been campaigning for.
It’s the Floyd Mayweather big money payday thought process that prevented fights from happening in two divisions. The difference here is four divisions are caught up in this potential mayhem.
There is no guarantee that Canelo will go back down in weight after the fight at this phase of the game. It’s especially hard to do once going up so much in weight.
Remember when Roy Jones Jr did it in 2003? He moved up nineteen pounds to battle John Ruiz at heavyweight, skipping the cruiserweight division. Though he became a heavyweight champion, the toll on his body was too much as he made the attempt to move down to light heavyweight and in his next three fights suffered two brutal knockout loses!
Not saying this will happen to Canelo, but it is something to keep in mind!
The prospect of so many big fights not happening is astonishing when you think about it. However, there is a positive outlook that perhaps learning from the past that fighters, instead of waiting, will fight each other and give us the main event caliber fights the boxing community will be thrilled to watch.
By: Garrisson Bland
Be the first to comment