Saul “Canelo” Alvarez erased the stench of his 2013 loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in full Saturday night by knocking off Miguel Cotto, a four-time champion in four weight classes, by unanimous decision in Las Vegas. Alvarez earned the WBC middleweight title in the victory, despite fighting Cotto at a 155-pound catch weight.
Alvarez, who is naturally larger than Cotto and ballooned past 170 pounds on fight night, is now the middleweight division’s lineal champion, and on a collision course with Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, boxing’s boogeyman. Golovkin holds the WBA, IBO and IBF middleweight titles, and is widely considered the top 160-pounder in the world.
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The negotiations for Alvarez vs. Golovkin could be tricky. Alvarez clearly has middleweight size, but has never fought at 160 pounds before. Cotto never weighed 160 pounds in any of his three middleweight fights, and Alvarez hasn’t fought above junior middleweight except for Saturday night. Golovkin would have every right to insist the bout take place at 160 pounds, but the fact of the matter is Alvarez brings greater star power to the event, and, as the A-side, can impose his will.
Alvarez should want to fight at 160, however. His size advantage over Cotto was pronounced, and he hurt the Puerto Rican often, but couldn’t finish the smaller man. It’s hard to imagine that he wouldn’t have earned a stoppage if he hadn’t drained himself to reach the weight limit.
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Golovkin is going to be more difficult to hurt than Cotto, and at 160 pounds, Alvarez would have more power to gain Golovkin’s respect. Alvarez’s style is to stand in the middle and counter aggressive punchers, but if he can not make Golovkin wary, that style will be his downfall.
Alvarez’s handlers might want to pump the brakes on Golovkin in the immediate future, and perhaps let Alvarez fight once or twice as a true middleweight to grow accustomed to the weight. Golovkin, who was in the crowd watching, doesn’t expect the brave Mexican to go that route.
When asked if he thought Alvarez would accept a fight, Golovkin said “I think so, I do. I think that’s how he is. He wants to fight.”
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