By: Hans Themistode
Canelo Alvarez knows exactly what it feels like to compete in the light heavyweight division. The pound-for-pound star made his lone trip to the weight class in November of 2019 and produced the results he was looking for, scoring an 11th round stoppage win over former titlist, Sergey Kovalev.
Despite proving that he was more than capable of dealing with the extra weight, Alvarez admitted that fighting at 175 pounds was a burden he didn’t want to carry. Regardless of how he feels, Alvarez has flirted with the idea of moving up once again. This time, to challenge current unified champion, Artur Beterbiev.
If Alvarez does in fact, decide to make a run at 175, newly inducted Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins believes he’ll take care of business in his new home.
“The light heavyweight division, I think he sweeps that,” said Hopkins to Fighthype.com.
While it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to see Alvarez once again move up in weight, current IBF cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis, would love for the Mexican native to climb up even higher.
“Doesn’t seem like Canelo will find a leveled fight at super middleweight or light heavyweight,” said Briedis on his social media account. “What a machine! Ready to test waters at cruiserweight for a proper challenge?”
Though Alvarez has floated around the idea of once again competing at light heavyweight, he’s yet to say anything about making a run in the cruiserweight division. That said, considering how hard Alvarez works, along with recently capturing every world title at 168 pounds, Hopkins is convinced that if Alvarez truly wanted to, he could face the likes of Briedis and anyone else at the cruiserweight division and have a ton of success.
“Canelo can already compete up to cruiserweight. He’s willing to put the work in. He’s willing to go through anything that has to go through to be great. And I think that he’s in a position of the mentality of a fighter and just want to do great things from here on out.”