Rocky Fielding To Defend WBA “Regular” Super Middleweight Title Against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez

Ringside Report

By Tyler “The Miracle Man” White

Just last week I wrote about Rocky Fielding, who was set to announce a date and an opponent for the first defense of his WBA “regular” title.

One name that I didn’t mention, or even consider to mention, was Canelo Alvarez, because let’s face it, we were all expecting Canelo to stay in the middleweight division. Potentially having a third fight with “GGG” or to make a defense of his titles against David Lemieux.

So, this really is a fight, that no-one saw coming…

Canelo Alvarez, will be challenging the largely unknown Rocky Fielding, for his WBA “regular” Super-Middleweight World title on December 15th.

It’s a fight that’s shocked the world of boxing and one that came out of nowhere!

Fans were left stunned at the reveals from Canelo and his team, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Promotions and then lastly the WBA “regular” champion himself, Rocky Fielding.

For our readers outside of the UK, Rocky Fielding is a fighter from Liverpool, England who has a record of 27-1-0, his only loss coming at the hands of the new WBA “super” Super-Middleweight World champion – Callum Smith.

Fielding is a former British and Commonwealth champion and won the WBA “regular” strap from Tyron Zeuge in Germany back in July of this year.

The Liverpool born fighter put in a very patient performance, setting up Zeuge in an attempt to land the left hand to the body. Fielding succeeded in landed the left hook to the body and dropped Zeuge, taking his “regular” title away from him in the process.

Despite holding a version of the world title, Fielding is not the same level/caliber of fighter as the Mexican – Canelo Alvarez.

Alvarez is at the top of the tree in boxing – he is undoubtedly one of the very few elite fighters within the sport.

Fielding, on the other hand, is a great fighter at British/European level, but he came up short when he fought Callum Smith in 2015 and was beat in devastating fashion within the first round.

On paper, this looks like an easy win for Canelo and all chances are that it will be!

However, what interests me is how Alvarez will cope with the sheer size difference between the two.

Although naturally big and strong, Canelo is a lot shorter when compared with Fielding (Canelo stands at 5ft 9”, whilst Fielding towers over him at 6ft 1”) and the Liverpudlian is going to be the naturally bigger man on the night.

Skill-wise, Canelo should be able to handle Fielding. However, it will be interesting to see how Canelo copes with Fielding’s size…

Nobody will be expecting Fielding to get the win, but it’s a great opportunity for him to fight a future hall of fame fighter and attempt to defy the odds and announce himself on the world stage – making a statement in the process!

What do you think of Canelo Vs Fielding?

Is it just an easy route for Canelo to become a 3 weight World champion?

Or is it his way of testing the waters of the Super-Middleweight division, to see if he can handle it, moving up in weight?