Willie Monroe Jr hopes to land a Canelo Alvarez fight!
Within the boxing world it’s no secret that Super WBA middleweight and WBA Regular super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KO’s) is in hot pursuit of an opponent. The search actually predates, and then was significantly complicated, by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Initially, the big ordeal was simply identifying a suitable adversary to appease the pallet of the fans. Now, a suitable dance partner, who fits into a much tighter financial slot, is the goal.
This is why many feel that WBO super middleweight champion “Superb” Billy Joe Saunders (29-0, 14 KO’s) is no longer a front runner like he was not so long ago. While this scenario may be detrimental for the traditional leading candidates, these recent developments have opened the door wide for others.
This is exactly where Willie “El Mongoose” Monroe Jr (24-3, 6 KO’s), who is the WBO’s #9 super middleweight, hopes to slide in the picture.
GOLDEN TICKET TIME?
Aside from the new wiggle room that the financial constraints have injected into the situation, Monroe feels that a great deal of his hope comes from boxing politics. In the past, when he was not as well connected as he is presently, EL Mongoose felt that his political positioning in the sport was too weak to maneuver into a high profile showdown with Canelo.
Now however, in an exclusive interview with Boxing Social, Monroe details how making alterations in his team has drastically altered his strength at the negotiation table.
“Well like I said, I am signed to [manager] David McWater and I think the thing about guys getting fights lines up behind correct representation. I mean how many times have we seen a great fighter not get an opportunity simply because he wasn’t represented right? He doesn’t have the right representation so he’s not going to get that opportunity.
“But now I have the right opportunity. It’s a political game. Boxing is a game of what have you done for me lately? What have you done to deserve this? Or, who are you with that I would owe this opportunity to that represent you that this will make not only good business deal but a great fight?
“It goes a lot deeper. And now that I’ve been in the business and been around and been like a fly on the wall in a bunch of different rooms and meetings and I understand the business of it.
“Now that I am signed to Split-T [management] I think that’s the reason why they are considering me for Canelo. Because it’s good business, its good business. I think it’s a good fight. The fight has been talked about since 2016.”
SET UP TO FAIL
Due to his tricky defensive style, El Mongoose is aware that he is not naturally at the top of Team Canelo’s list of things to do. This was proven beyond doubt when the WBA champion opted to not face him following his 2016 victory over Gabriel Rosado as Golden Boy said they would.
However, as it often is with the shifting sands of life, the present day circumstances have placed Monroe in a very favorable position.
“They gave me a three and a half week notice, you know Golden Boy, De La Hoya? They gave me a three and a half week notice to fight Gabe Rosado. They were so, so, so, so sure that I was going to lose to Rosado.
“They gave me the fight on like a 25 or 26 day notice and it’s a 12 round title fight; a co-feature to Canelo in front of 80,000 fans. So the pressure of this, and with three weeks to train and prepare for it, should have crushed me.
“So they arrogantly said, ‘we’ll let you fight Canelo if you beat Rosado.’ It was more or less like, ‘ha, ha, ha, he’s not going to beat [him].’ It was more like one of those things. Well guess what, I showed up and not only did I beat him, everybody was like we’ve never seen Rosado get beat that way!
When passed over after the Rosado bout:
“I didn’t get into it with anybody, I didn’t go on social media blasting De La Hoya or any of Golden Boy for not making good on the contract. I didn’t say anything bad about Canelo, I just said, ‘you know what, God bless you.’”
TIME WILL TELL
With the previous let down firmly in his rear view mirror, Monroe is not willing to dwell on the missed bout. Instead, he’d rather pour positive energy into obtaining the fight right now in 2020. Yet, only time will tell if his current representation can secure the bout for him.
“I will say this, I would say that Canelo’s team knows that I’m a little bit of a difficult fight and I think they didn’t want to risk him looking bad or possibly getting beat before a Golovkin fight.
“Because the Golovkin fights were huge. Outside of actual skill and boxing applications to the game, business is business. So I respect it, but I patiently waited for four years, I think that I should get it now.”
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By: Bakari Simpson
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