Canelo won’t rule out 175 world title challenge

By Sean Jones: Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) will be moving up to 168 lb in his next fight to try and earn his third division world title against WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding (27-1, 15 KOs) on December 15.

If Canelo does fight for a world title at 175 in the future, he would gain a lot more respect from the boxing fans if he chose to take on the perceived best in the light heavyweight division. Canelo certainly isn’t taking on the best in moving up to 168 to challenge Fielding, 31, for his WBA title. That’s a weak move on Canelo’s part. Fielding was knocked out in the 1st round by Callum Smith in 2015.

Canelo isn’t sure whether he’ll try to win a fourth division world title in the future by moving up to 175 to take on one of the light heavyweight champions. In going after a belt at light heavyweight, you would have to presume that Canelo, 28, would be looking for a vulnerable champion like he’s arguably doing in facing Fielding on the 15th of December on DAZN at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I don’t think so,” Canelo said when asked if he’ll go after a world title at light heavyweight in the future. “No, I don’t think my body will take more, but never say never. You never know,” Canelo said.

It’s kind of crazy to envision the 5’8″ Canelo moving up to light heavyweight to take on one of the champions in the future.

Just which belt holder Canelo would go after is the important question. Here are the current 175 lb champions:

– Adonis Stevenson: WBC

– Dmitry Bivol: WBA

– Artur Beterbiev: IBF

– Eleider Alvarez:

– Oleksandr Gvozdyk: Interim WBC

Stevenson and Beterbiev would likely hurt Canelo with their power shots. Bivol would out-box Canelo easily, and Gvozdyk and Alvarez might have too much power. Those guys would hurt Canelo each time they landed.

Out of those champions, Eleider Alvarez is likely the most vunerable of the current crop of champions. Canelo might have a chance at beating Alvarez, but he’ll need to go after him while he’s still a champion, because he might not hold onto his belt for long. Alvarez will have a hard time when he’s ordered to defend against contender Marcus Browne in the not too distant future.

There are many combinations, but what I like is for the people to ask for the fights,” Canelo said when asked who he would like to fight after his bout against Fielding in December. The people are the ones that ask for the fights. They have a hunger to see a fight, and those are the fights they start saying, ‘No, he doesn’t want to fight; he doesn’t want this or that.’ Let’s go with that one. Not just anyone, of course,” Canelo said.

The fans want to see Canelo face Gennady Golovkin in a trilogy fight, but many of them have given up on their rivalry, believing that GGG will be robbed no matter how many times he faces Canelo. The fans have little faith in the judging process when it comes to Canelo vs. Golovkin. For that reason, a lot of the fans prefer that Golovkin not bother fighting Canelo again, because he’ll only end up getting robbed by the judges no matter how many times he faces him.

“I don’t have any problems with having a third one,” Canelo said about a trilogy fight with GGG in speaking with DAZN. “I will beat him easy.”

There was nothing easy about the second fight with GGG for Canelo last month on September 15 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo was hurt twice in the 10th and 11th rounds by big shots from Golovkin. Canelo gassed and took a pounding in rounds 10, 11 and 12. Two of the judges [Steve Weisfeld and Dave Moretti] gave Canelo the 12th round. Had they scored the round in favor of Golovkin, which is what many boxing fans and members of the media did, then the fight would have ended up as a 12 round draw. It wasn’t an easy fight for Canelo, so it’s unclear why hes saying that he’ll beat Golovkin easy in the third fight, if there is one.

A fight that Canelo wants more than a third fight with GGG is a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. It still bugs Canelo that he was beaten so easily by Mayweather in 2013. Instead of giving credit to Mayweather for having beaten him in a dominating fashion, Canelo blames the loss on his inexperience. Canelo thinks he would beat Mayweather if they fought now. Of course, Mayweather is about to turn 42-years-old, and he hasn’t fought in against a boxer since his win over Andre Berto in 2016. You can’t count Mayweather’s win over Conor McGregor as a true victory in boxing, because he was fighting an MMA guy with no skills.

“I think that’s one of the thorns I want to take out of my side,” Canelo said about wanting to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a rematch so that he can avenge his loss from 2013. ““When I fought against him, I felt I was ready. I felt I could beat him, but experience beat me that night. Experience beat me that night. I was young without experience. But today, I think I’m a more mature fighter with more experience and it would be different. I was too young when Floyd beat me. My trainer Eddy Reynoso wants me to win another title in another division, and to be one of only 10 Mexican to win world titles in three different divisions,” Canelo said.

The boxing fans don’t believe that Canelo lost to Mayweather due to experience. They believe that he lost because he was facing a guy with more talent than himself. Even now, Mayweather would have a good chance of beating Canelo if he were to go through a hard training camp. They would have to agree on a weight that would make the contest an even playing field. You can’t have Canelo out-weighing Mayweather by 25 pounds on fight night. That’s the whole problem that makes it next to impossible for Canelo ever get a rematch against Mayweather.