Saul “Canelo” Alvarez Looking to Bring Back his “Canelo-weight” Days
For his next bout, undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KO’s) threw the boxing world for a bit of a loop. Rather than take on 168-pound boxer David Benavidez or WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, Canelo got unorthodox. Team Alvarez thought it would be a prudent idea to challenge WBC cruiserweight Ilunga Makabu (28-2, 25 KO’s).
Yet according to Spanish publication El Fildeo, the redhead is attempting to reinstate his ‘Canelo-weight’ power play.
Back during his tenure at super welterweight, the Mexican superstar contested so many fights at the 155-pound catch-weight that it was unofficially dubbed ‘Canelo-weight.’ Now, he’ll try to persuade Ilunga Makabu to take the fight with a 180-pound stipulation. For many, this will beg the question, “why even fight if it’ll be that far off the mark?” Provided that Makabu accepts these new terms, he would enter the bout at a 20-pound deficit; 20 pounds on top of the year he’s already been inactive.
WHAT’S THE POINT?
Outside of Canelo snagging another belt in a new weight class, there is really absolutely no reason for this bout. Dragging the Congolese fighter so far out of his division would completely invalidate the win even if the redhead did beat him. Let Canelo tell it, he just wants to see how his body will feel at 180 pounds. This is somewhat an odd statement, or a weak alibi, considering Alvarez already fought Sergey Kovalev at light heavyweight.
Therefore, it’s really rather hard to believe that Alvarez is not already well aware of how his body will feel. What’s far more likely is Canelo is aiming to drain Makabu, grab his belt and then return to super middleweight without ever having to put any real tax on his own body. If that is the case, where is the glory in beating a half-starved champion? Caleb Plant recently held out of the Canelo fight until he got the terms that he wanted.
At the same time though, Makabu would not be fighting at the traditional cruiserweight limit of 200 pounds, anyway. That has nothing to do with Canelo Alvarez and 100% due to the WBC. This is because, when the sanctioning body put their new “Bridgerweight” into play, it shifted their cruiserweight limit to 190 from the previous 200-pound limit. Therefore the Congolese fighter would have had to trim off more than he is accustomed to, no matter who his foe would have been. From this angle, Makabu might be more than happy to take off an additional ten pounds to fight boxing’s current poster boy. So, it’ll be interesting to see how Makabu plays his hand now that he is the would-be man of the hour.
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By: Bakari Simpson
