Canelo 'not afraid' of GGG: 'If we fight, it's going to be at my weight class'
After beating Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez addressed a potential matchup with middleweight titleist Gennady Golovkin.
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2 min read
Canelo Alvarez won a convincing, unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto on Saturday night in Las Vegas to claim the vacant WBC World middleweight belt and become the lineal middleweight champion.
By claiming the WBC belt, Alvarez now has to make a mandatory fight with Gennady Golovkin, who holds the majority of the other belts in the middleweight division, or else he could be stripped of the belt.
Every top fighter in the middleweight division has avoided the powerful knockout artist known as GGG to this point, but the Kazakhs star has still emerged as one of boxing's biggest stars.
Canelo is known as a fighter willing to take risks, and one of the first questions he faced following his win was about a potential matchup with GGG.
"I’m not afraid of any fighter," said Alvarez, according the Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times. "GGG is a great fighter ... If we do a fight, it’s going to be at my weight class."
The first sentence is promising, and Canelo told HBO in the ring that he would "fight [GGG] right now" following his win. However, the second part is what could end up being the sticking point.
Alvarez was the bigger man in the Cotto bout, which took place at 155 pounds, not 160 pounds like a true middleweight bout -- where Golovkin fights. Alvarez will demand that Golovkin come down in weight for the fight to the 155-pound limit.
Golovkin has previously said he would go to 155 pounds for a matchup with Floyd Mayweather, but whether he would be willing to risk that same weight drop for Alvarez is unknown. GGG is a power puncher that makes his money off of his ability to hurt the opponent, and going down in weight always brings with it the risk of losing some of that power.
The entire boxing world is anticipating a potential Canelo-GGG fight and it would be the immediate lead candidate for fight of the year. It also would make the most financial sense for both fighters, as both have proven to have the fan base to carry a pay-per-view on their own.
A matchup between the two, one Mexican and one that calls himself "Mexican-style," would surely bring in a massive pay-per-view audience. It's now up to the two fighters and their promoters to make the necessary concessions to make the fight happen -- hopefully sooner than later, thanks to some prodding by the WBC.
Golden Boy Promotions', which represents Canelo, big man-in-charge Oscar De La Hoya simply said after the fight, "the best will fight the best." In the middleweight division, GGG and Canelo are the best of the best, and hopefully we'll see them in the ring in 2016.
