Canelo Alvarez talks Mayweather, GGG, Fielding, and more

Canelo Alvarez fielded queries from boxing press and he was asked about both what’s on the plate now in front of him (Rocky Fielding, Dec. 15 at MSG in NYC) and what might come later.

Here are some highlights.

The Mexican (super) middleweight was asked about maybe having another go with Floyd Mayweather. Floyd handled him with ease in 2013, eons ago. At what weight would he want to scrum? “I can’t go down further than 160 pounds. If that fight were to take place, it would have to be at 160 pounds,” said the redhead.

The 50-1-2 boxer, age 28, said that he is the better boxer than Fielding, on paper, but knows 168 is out of his comfort zone and it sounds like he respects the Brit. But, back to Floyd.

“It was experience who defeated me that night and that’s why it was a boring fight, as well, because he didn’t do too much to me, either. It was experience and I’m a much more mature fighter. I’m a better fighter than the fighter that fought that night,” the Golden Boy boxer stated.

“It would be very different. After Mayweather, we’ve faced very good fighters. We fought Miguel Cotto, GGG twice. It will be different, and he’s a more complete fighter now with more experience. If this fight were to happen again, we would defeat him, no problem.”

So, is super middle the new norm for him, or will he drop down again?

“Right now the goal, the objective, is to fight for this world title and win on December 15 and then go back to 160 points where I do best. If we’ll be moving up and down those divisions, we didn’t know, but right now our goal is to get the title to middleweight.”

The hitter sounded jazzed to be making his first foray into NYC.

“Yes, I would like it to be the first of many fights there. To fight in New York is another landmark in my career and is another important story in my career. I would like to fight there, and instead of being the first or the last, I want it to be the first of many more.”

Hear that, Vegas?

One journo asked what the response has been to the DAZN Canelo signing, and Chepo Reynoso handled the question.

“They haven’t given us that information. We will have to visit that after the fight and they will give us more information. But the comments are good and they are very happy.”

But of course, the subject of Gennady Golovkin was broached; would Canelo like to see the Kazakh sign to DAZN and book a third bout between them?

“He can do whatever he wants and he can do whatever is convenient for him. I did my thing, so to each his own. And regarding the fights we’ll see in the future, like I said, I’m all willing to make a third fight, if we made two, I’ll make a third one.”

(On the Everlast “Talkbox” podcast, Bob Arum on Tuesday was asked if he had an update on whether GGG would sign to Top Rank to fight on ESPN, or DAZN. Arum didn’t offer a substantive update but said that there is no bigger entity in sports, among platforms, than ESPN. Message: Don’t write off ESPN.)

And the topic then circled back to Mayweather.

“Definitely,” said GBP exec Eric Gomez when asked if Canelo could KO “Money.” “Floyd doesn’t want any of Canelo now. Floyd took the fight at the right time. He was fighting a fighter that, you know, was very young, 21 at the time. He didn’t have the experience. Floyd beat him with experience, that’s all he did, but now, it would be a different story. Floyd, he doesn’t want to face Canelo.”

My three cents: It feels like most all assume Canelo handles Fielding. I do, you do. Canelo does, humbly. So, we got questions about what could come after. Let’s kick that to you. I don’t think Floyd does want this version of Canelo, 160 is too high a weight for him. GGG, how about booking their third scrap for September 2019? And then what say Canelo versus Danny Jacobs for the Mexican’s first bout in 2019? That pass muster with you all?

Also, the topic of speaking English came up. Gomez noted that Canelo has a good rep, and actually snags sponsors. Talking in the ring is more important than the yapping outside of it, Canelo stated, and he’s right.

Thing is, I would like to see him get a great command of English. I think his mass appeal could and will get more massive in the US when that happens. Mexican-Americans make up about 11% of the US population—do the math, there are like 36 million Mexican-Americans calling America home. A Canelo that tracks with them as far as speaking English, that makes him that much more identifiable. A deeper and faster immersion into speaking English could be worth a pretty penny to the fighter.