The heat that Canelo Alvarez has taken for fighting John Ryder, former 154-pound champions Jermell Charlo and Jaime Munguia and now major underdog Edgar Berlanga in succession is no crime.
Should four-division and three-belt super-middleweight champion Alvarez turn away from ever meeting former super-middleweight champion David Benavidez or decline a rematch with current light-heavyweight champion Dmitrii Bivol, he is within his rights.
Argue these points if you’d like, but you’d be arguing with arguably the world’s greatest living boxer, Roy Jones Jr.
“Canelo isn’t obligated to take all these fights everyone wants him to take,” Jones told BoxingScene in a recent conversation. “He doesn’t need to prove anything.
“He already took all these tough fights on his way up. It’s what made him who he is. Now that he’s here, it’s OK for him to be doing what he’s doing. He doesn’t need to feel any guilt.”
At 34, Alvarez has a resume that includes victories by decision over Hall of Famers Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley, he never lost a fight in the Gennadiy Golovkin trilogy – winning twice – and defeated the unbeaten likes of Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara, Caleb Plant, Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders.
Although he’ll get an argument from those backing undisputed super-bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue, three-belt heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and four-division junior-middleweight champion Terence Crawford, Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) argues he’s still the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter.
He knocked down Munguia, 27, in the fourth round of their May bout after Munguia proved he was a bona fide super-middleweight by stopping Ryder in January, and now Alvarez faces another entertaining 27-year-old in Berlanga, who knocked out his first 16 foes in the first round.
Alvarez’s losses were to Floyd Mayweather Jr. when Canelo was 23 years old, and to the bigger Bivol – proof, reminds Jones, that Alvarez has been up for testing himself.
Will he again? That’s boxing’s million-dollar question.
For now, Alvarez finds himself basking in $35 million purses for fighting whoever he wants.
It’s why Jones relates. He was in a similar situation back in 1995, when HBO signed then-super-middleweight champion Jones to a multi-year contract deemed “one of the most lucrative television contracts ever for a non-heavyweight.”
The six-fight, $12 million deal was renewed through the early 2000s, with HBO incentivizing Jones to take tougher fights with a menu of A-list and B-list opponents that would increase his earnings if he selected opponents including Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad.
Instead of doing that, Jones let his sublime skill speak for itself against the likes of Tony Thornto, Eric Lucas, Bryant Brannon, Richard Frazier, Eric Harding, and, in 2002, Glen Kelly.
“He went for the sure-things and didn’t reach for the stars,” said a former network official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
At their 1996 weigh-in, HBO officials were stunned to watch the heavy underdog Kelly walk to Jones and smile, shaking his hand in admiration before getting stopped in the 11th round.
“It was like, ‘Holy shit, what are we doing … ,’” the network official said.
By the time Jones fought Kelly in 2002, he was so confident of the outcome, he played in a minor-league basketball game that afternoon. Jones knocked out Kelly in the seventh round.
At age 34 in 2003, Jones moved beyond the sure things by fighting and defeating then-heavyweight champion John Ruiz, becoming a four-division champion and the only man who started as a junior-middleweight and became heavyweight champion of the world.
He secured a massive, perhaps $10 million purse from promoter Don King and continued to remain unattached to a major promoter – just like Alvarez now – before struggling to adjust in the move back down to light-heavyweight and losing two of three fights to Antonio Tarver.
“Obviously, Roy knew exactly what he was doing,” the network official said as Jones proceeded on to advanced-years bouts against Trinidad, Joe Calzaghe and Hopkins.
“There are parallels between Canelo and many boxers, not just Roy,” said Jim Lampley, who will be co-hosting PPV.COM’s live-chat and broadcast of the Alvarez-Berlanga bout along with myself, Dan Canobbio and ProBox TV’s Chris Algieri Saturday night.
“As a fan, of course, we want to see the best fighting the best, but every fighter including Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali went around from what the fans wanted to take the opportunity of the business fight and not the competitive fight without being dramatically penalized for it.
“It’s the nature of the beast. They might not retain the longevity and durability they need to construct the careers they want if they’re taking one tough fight after the other. Do the Yankees only play the toughest team every series? No, they get breathers. So there’s no reason not to accept the same thing in boxing.
“Roy Jones is still Roy Jones, and he did not dishonor the sport. Joe Louis fought the ‘bum of the month club.’ Was he still Joe Louis? Yes, he was.
Jones, who’s promoting fights like his Sept. 19 card at Legends Casino in Toppenish, Wash., while also training fighters, said he’s never had a conversation with Alvarez over the best way to script a career. He said he’d be happy to should the occasion arise.
As for where Alvarez is now, Jones expressed perhaps surprising advice for his fellow four-division great.
“He doesn’t need to fight Bivol again,” following the Russian’s unanimous-decision victory in 2022, Jones said. “He’s already lost that fight, and Bivol’s only getting better and is still bigger. I’d expect the same (Bivol victory) to happen.”
As for Alvarez’s resistance to fight Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), who moved to light-heavyweight in June and defeated former 175-pound champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk by unanimous decision with another light-heavyweight bout coming Dec. 14, Jones said he understands why Alvarez won’t fight him – especially if the money isn’t right.
“Benavidez is so much bigger, and he’s going to weigh even more on fight night,” Jones said.
So why doesn’t Alvarez just mandate a rehydration clause, that would require the Phoenix fighter to weigh in at a reasonable weight on the day of the fight?
“A true champion doesn’t ask for a rehydration clause,” Jones said. “A true champion knows if he takes a fight, the fight is on. With no clauses.
“Canelo is a true champion.”
Lampley said he believes, “Canelo’s will toward the best best opposition is above average for his generation. At least it feels that way to me.”
Jones said if he was Alvarez, he would look to take the cash that Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh wants to invest in a match against Crawford, likely convincingly defeat the two-weight-divisions-smaller man from Nebraska next year and then retire.
“He’s proven everything he needs to prove,” Jones said of Alvarez.
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