De La Hoya wants Canelo vs. Spence fight, waiting for Errol to talk to him

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By Jim Dower: Oscar De La Hoya says he’s very interested in a fight between Golden Boy Promotion’s cash cow Saul Canelo Alvarez and IBF welterweight champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr. as soon as possible.

De La Hoya says Spence, 28, would need to move up two weigh classes from welterweight to middleweight for it to take place in the 160 pound division. Canelo, 27, wouldn’t be moving down to 154 or 147 to make the fight happen obviously.

De La Hoya notes that Canelo and Spence both have immediate plans for important fights. Canelo is facing Gennady Golovkin next in a rematch on September 15. Spence is on hold waiting on a potential fight against Mikey Garcia in December if possible.

”Absolutely, Canelo is always willing to fight the best,” De La Hoya said to Fighthub when asked if he’d be willing to fight Errol Spence Jr. ”I believe a fighter like Errol Spence Jr. can come up a couple of weight divisions and challenge a fighter like Canelo and that’ll be a super fight, but you have to come and talk to us because we would know how to stage that type of event.”

If Spence wants a mega-fight and a chance to turn himself into a star, then he’s going to have to agree to go up in weight to face the heavier Canelo. That’s a sacrifice that Spence will need to take for him to get the big payday that he’s been craving all these years. Aside from Golovkin, Golden Boy doesn’t have a lot of options for Canelo to take in terms of fights that the boxing public in the U.S would be interested in watching. Win or lose on September 15, Golden Boy is expected to match Canelo against the winner of the Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan vs. David Lemieux later this year. That fight won’t attract a great deal of interest from fans compared to a match between Spence and Canelo. That fight is a very nice fight that the fans will be eager to see.

2012 U.S Olympian Spence is all for a fight against Canelo. It’s a fight that Spence has been talking about wanting to take for two years now, and he doesn’t care that he would need to move up in weight to take it. Spence is managed by Al Haymon, so it’s a possibility to make a fight against Alvarez. Spence is currently hoping to face former four division world champion Mikey Garcia in December on Showtime pay-per-view. It remains to be seen if that fight will take place, as Matchroom Boxing USA promoter Eddie Hearn is interested in signing Mikey for his DAZN platform. Hearn prefers to match Mikey against guys like Jessie Vargas. Hearn doesn’t see the Garcia vs. Spence fight as being a big fight yet. Spence is also interested in fighting unification matches against WBA Super World welterweight champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman and the winner of the September 8 fight between Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter for the World Boxing Council welterweight title. Additionally, Spence wants to finish unifying the 147 pound division by taking WBO champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford’s title from him, but that fight will likely wait until ‘The Truth’ has beaten the Garcia-Porter winner and Thurman.

The main obstacle that would prevent Canelo and Spence fighting in the near term is how much time will be required for the Mexican star to recover from a potential loss to IBO/WBA/WBO middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin in their rematch on September 15. Canelo is viewed as the underdog in betting circles after being given a questionable 12 round draw last year on September 16 in Las Vegas,

Nevada. That was Canelo’s best chance of winning a decision in that fight, as Golovkin gave him a massive amount of respect in fighting in a cautious manner in the first two rounds, and then mostly staying on the outside and boxing him in the last nine rounds. Golovkin (38-0-1. 34 KOs) did enough to win by a 116-112 score on press row. With Golovkin vowing to fight a lot more aggressively in the rematch, it’s likely that Canelo will take a loss this time around and possibly a bad knockout loss. Either way, Canelo will need to rest up after his second fight against Golovkin, because Golden Boy isn’t going to want to feed him to a wrecking machine like Spence right away after what promises to be a far more grueling fight than the first encounter a year ago.

”We would really make that a super event with Canelo and Spence,” De La Hoya said. ”Obviously first thing is first. Spence has his plans and Canelo has our plans, so we’ll see what happens in the future. I’m hoping I get that knock on the door from Spence and he wants to be involved in a major pay-per-view,” De La Hoya said.

The 5’8” Canelo would have a weight advantage over the 5’9” Spence, but he would be giving up two inches in reach against the American. Spence is a natural middleweight despite the fact that he elects to campaign as a welterweight. Canelo would still likely have a small weight advantage of 5 to 10 pounds over Spence, and he would be the more compact fighter of the two. However, Spence is a rugged pressure fighter, who is capable of throwing vicious body shots. Spence wouldn’t shy away from fighting on the inside against Canelo Alvarez, unlike Golovkin, who wanted no part in fighting the Mexican star in close last September. Canelo would have the hand speed advantage over Spence, and his upper body movement would make it tough at times for him to land. However, as Golovkin showed, Canelo is easier to hit with head shots when he’s fought in a sustained manner for a full three minutes. Canelo gets tired of using his upper body and head movement, and he’s a lot easier to hit. His opponents have to be willing to stand in the pocket and endure missing and getting countered for the first volley of shots in close before they’re able to find success in hitting him.

There would be a great deal of interest from the U.S boxing public in a fight between Spence and Canelo. That’s an excellent match-up for the fans.

Canelo is going to be called a ‘weight bully’ by boxing fans if he faces Spence, as he would have the size advantage in terms of weight. One of the main criticisms aimed towards Canelo from the fans is the way he’s been matched against fighters from the 140 and 147 pound weight division when he’s fought at junior middleweight and middleweight in the past. When Canelo was fighting at 154, he fought 140 pound fighter Josesito Lopez. Canelo also had huge weight advantages in fights against Amir Khan, Jose Miguel Cotto, Matthew Hatton, Miguel Cotto, and Shane Mosley. Spence will need to be able to take some huge shots from Canelo for him to hang around long enough to wear him down and either get a stoppage or a decision victory.

What’s unclear is whether Golden Boy will attempt to get Spence and his manager Al Haymon to agree to future options on him in return for a fight against Canelo. It’s difficult to believe that De La Hoya would agree to a fight between Canelo and Spence without Errol agreeing to two or three options in which Golden Boy Promotions would co-promoted. That wouldn’t be bad for Spence if two of those here fights were against Canelo, and the third against someone like Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan. But if Spence beats Canelo and O’Sullivan, he won’t get credit if he returns to 147 to clean out the division by defeating Crawford and the Garcia vs. Porter winner. For Spence to get full credit for unifying the welterweight division, he needs to do it before he faces Canelo a middleweight.

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