De La Hoya wants Mayweather to fight Canelo at 160

Boxingnews24.com

By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr. could possibly face UFC star Conor McGregor this summer if the fight gets made, but Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya has doubts that it will ever happen. De La Hoya sees the Mayweather-McGregor fight as being embarrassing for McGregor, and not good for UFC organization. Rather than fight Mcgregor, which De La Hoya sees as a disrespect to boxing, De La Hoya has a suggestion for Floyd. He thinks he should fight a rematch with Saul Canelo Alvarez at 160.

Mayweather already beat Canelo by a 12 round majority decision 4 years ago in 2013. The two fighters fought at a catch-weight of 152 lbs. De La Hoya maintains that Canelo has improved considerably since the loss to Mayweather, and he wants him to show the boxing world how improved he is by fighting him a second time but at a new weight of 160. Canelo is going to be very hard for even the best middleweights to beat in the 160lb division. Mayweather would be risking his health if he agreed to fight Canelo at that weight. The only Mayweather would have a chance is if he got Canelo to agree to fight him at catch-weight like he did last time they fought in 2013.

“I would never concede their biggest start fighting inside the ring with Floyd because obviously he would get embarrassed . Floyd would out-box him easily,” said De La Hoya to Fighthype.com. “It would be disastrous for the UFC. So I don; see it happening. Why not face Canelo at 160,” said De La Hoya.

De La Hoya could be misjudging the UFC, because they might let McGegor take the fight with Mayweather. It would be a way for the UFC to gain attention and a lot of new fans for their sport from the boxing world. A lot of fans from boxing have never seen McGregor fight before. If he can win them over more for his personality than for what he does inside the ring, then they might start to follow him when he goes back to fighting at the UFC. If McGegor can be slightly competitive with Mayweather, it’s a win-win for the UFC. The UFC gains and boxing loses if Mayweather fights McGregor. The UFC will attract a lot of news to their sport whereas boxing will likely gain little because Mayweather is retired. If Mayweather were to continue fighting, then it would be a win-win for boxing, but he has no intention of fighting on beyond this one payday fight against McGregor.

Mayweather has shown no interest in taking any risky fights since his win over Manny Pacquiao in 2015. Mayweather fought once after that in beating Andre Berto in September 2015. Mayweather retired after that fight. A second fight against Canelo would be a dangerous match for Mayweather, because he’s not fought in 2 years. His skills will likely have eroded somewhat due to inactivity and soft living. With De La Hoya wanting Mayweather to fight Canelo at 160, it’s quite possible that Canelo would rehydrate into the 180s and enjoy at least a 15-20 lb. weight advantage over Mayweather.

Canelo’s weight would beat Mayweather more than anything. Canelo could be totally out-boxed and he’d still have a good chance of winning due to his huge weight. Mayweather will probably never agree to fight Canelo a second time, because he’s so much bigger now compared to when they fought. Canelo would rehydrate to around 170 when he fought Mayweather in 2013.