Golden Boy promoted Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) announced yesterday that he will stay at the full middleweight limit following his 164 lb catchweight bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (50-2-1, 34 KOs). Canelo had fought all but one of his six post Mayweather fights at a 155 lb catchweight dubbed Caneloweight by boxing fans. This bodes well for a potential fight with Gennady Golovkin in the fall.
Having fought as technically a middleweight, Canelo was able to win the WBC middleweight title from Miguel Cotto in 2015. He defended it once against Amir Khan before choosing to vacate it when Gennady Golovkin was named his mandatory challenger. This brought the cries of Canelo ducking Golovkin to new highs. In what was largely viewed as a move to continue to avoid Golovkin, Canelo dropped that bonus pound and fought Liam Smith in a true junior middleweight fight in his most recent outing, winning Smith’s WBO belt at the weight. Apparently, however, the cut is now too difficult for Alvarez and he will campaign at full 160 going forward.
Personally I have never bought into the idea that it is Saul Alvarez avoiding Golovkin. The ducking has been happening, for sure, but I have a hard time believing it is coming from the guy who demanded to fight everyone at 154 that could have had a claim at being the top fighter. You don’t demand fights with Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara and then run from Golovkin. Those were high risk, low money fight options and Canelo absolutely insisted on them. Golovkin is a high risk, high money fight. I understand some will say the difference is how Golovkin fights, his power mixed with the skill that Trout and Lara have. To me, however, the real difference is how PBC raided Golden Boy’s roster to such an extreme that De La Hoya only has Canelo currently as a big money fighter. Risking Canelo when DLH had a whole stable of money makers was one thing, but he clearly does not want to do it now when Canelo is all they have. Honestly, I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t either.
With that said, Golovkin recently announced he is skipping a summer fight, something De La Hoya has insisted he must do if he wants to fight Canelo. Now Canelo is staying at middleweight. What once looked like a fight that may never happen now looks like a fight with a sliver of hope. Maybe we will finally get to see Canelo Alvarez versus Gennady Golovkin this fall. I am not holding my breath, but for once I feel like I cannot rule it out for sure either.
Also, as a final note, Canelo will surely vacate the 154 lb WBO belt he won against Liam Smith. The WBO was clearly preparing for that possibility by sanctioning the same Liam Smith versus Liam Williams for an interim version of the belt last weekend in the UK. Smith won with some controversy, but it did not matter as he missed weight. Accordingly, no one won the belt and we will likely have a vacant title at 154 following this. I suspect a Smith/Williams rematch will come, but that will be up to the WBO.
