Saul Canelo Alvarez (Photo : Getty Images)
After the long-awaited but disappointing superfight in 2015 between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, the next anticipated superfight may also be in jeopardy.
The current WBC middleweight champion, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has just declared that he is actually not a middleweight in the press conference for his fight against Amir Khan. Vice Sports took his quotes.
"I'm not a middleweight," Alvarez said. "I'm a super welterweight. That's my weight class. I wanted to fight this time for some sort of title at super welter."
Golden Boy VP Eric Gomez elaborated his wards statement, and it has some dire implications.
"There's a big misconception, people keep calling Canelo a middleweight," Gomez said. "Look at his record. The highest he ever fought was at 155. He can still make 154 comfortably and he said it all along: Whenever his body feels that he has to make the change and jump, that's when he'll do it. He's not a middleweight. The only reason he became middleweight champion is because he wanted to fight Miguel Cotto."
What does that mean for the hotly anticipated match between Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin and Canelo?
Despite all the reassurances that it will be made, the speculation continues that Canelo may still vacate the WBC title and avoid the match with Golovkin. Boxing News 24 notes that this would be disastrous for Golovkin if this happens.
"If Canelo undermines Team Golovkin's plan to fight for the WBC title by him vacating it first, then it'll leave Golovkin in the same place he is right now," BN24's Chris Williams stated. "He would be making defenses against little known fighters that the boxing public has never heard of, and don't particularly care about. Golovkin needs a fight against Canelo to make him a popular fighter."
Canelo's statements about being a super welterweight indicate that he is unlikely to take on Golovkin at the middleweight norm of 160 lbs. His choice of Amir Khan, a welterweight, as an opponent seems indicative of the general direction he wants to take-he does not want to fight full middleweights, let along Golovkin.
For Golovkin, he may go down as the most feared fighter, but your legacy is only based on the fights you actually make. Based on the quality of opponents, that has not been impressive.
