Canelo Alvarez is the face of boxing. The sports biggest star has made a name for himself by fighting the best out there over the years. He has beaten Hall of Famers such as Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto and notable fighters such as Erislandy Lara and Sergey Kovalev.
But the last time that Canelo actually fought someone who who many felt could have hurt him was in 2017 when he fought Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin. He was able to escape that fight with a controversial draw. Many scored it for Triple G, since fighting Triple G he’s went on a run of hand picking less dangerous fighters. All while trying to make the most money as possible. That’s fine and that’s what prize fighting is all about. But when you’re chasing all time greatness, that can cause your fans and the media to start questioning your legacy. He tried to cherry pick WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitri Bivol. Instead of going after Artur Beterbiev who’s the most dangerous fighter in the division. That strategy back fired as he was easily beaten by Bivol. Since then he has easily defended his Super middleweight championship belts four times.
Money building or Legacy building?
Including his last win against and undefeated fighter in Jaime Munguia who is a solid fighter but nowhere on the level of Canelo. That fight was another easy win for Alvarez. After the fight, the calls got louder for Canelo to fight the guy that everyone has been calling for him to fight and that’s David Benavidez. “We’ll see, why not? If the money is correct, why not? I can fight him Saturday night, too,” Álvarez said. “Yeah of course, of course. I’d beat that guy,” he said. “If the money is correct, I’d fight that guy and I’d beat that guy the same night, I don’t f–king care.”
If that’s the case we all know that Canelo will be given the lions share of money so this seems like a excuse. Benavidez doesn’t care about money, he just wants the fight. Canelo doubled down on that thought Wednesday.
“All I see is that Benavidez weighs 25 or 30 pounds more than I do on the day of the fight,” Canelo told press at a charity golf event on Wednesday. “I have no problem with that, but if you want me to fight with him it’s $200 million.” “If they pay me twice as much as I earn, yes,” Alvarez said. “But if they are going to want to pay the same, why the hell?”
Another fight could be looming
Another name that has come up is Terrance Crawford, who some believe is the best pound for pound fighter in the world. He’s making his debut at 154 pounds in August. So that would be Crawford taking a chance at the bigger man in Canelo. But that’s an intriguing fight, one fight that His Excellency Turki Alalshikh of Riyadh Season is looking to put together in December of this year. That’s a fight that will generate a ton of money. If that’s the driving factor for Canelo then this fight could very well happen. Even if though it’s a high risk and low reward situation according to Canelo.
His Excellency is looking to make Canelo vs. Crawford happen in the US either December 2024 or January 2025 ???? pic.twitter.com/4PIB1kO55Y
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) May 6, 2024
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
