Canelo, as always, goes his own way

By: Sean Crose

Canelo Alvarez may be past his prime, but he’s not past being one of the most recognized, lucrative and talented athletes on earth. Perhaps that’s why Canelo isn’t overexcited by the possibility of facing Terence Crawford in the ring. Perhaps that’s also why Canelo is willing to go tit for tat with boxing’s rising powerhouse, Turki Alalshikh. For the red haired star has made it clear he will only work on his terms, not Alalshikh’s or anyone else’s.

“I heard what Canelo said that he respects me but doesn’t like the way we do business,” Alalshikh tweeted. “As for him respecting me, it doesn’t matter to me if he does or not. As for the way I do business, I know why he doesn’t like it, because I only target big fights at fair prices, so of course anyone who likes easy fights won’t like that.”

Sure enough, Canelo has faced criticism for wanting to take it easy as his illustrious career winds down. Indeed, Canelo is next going to be fighting Edgar Berlanga in September while the public wanted him to face the formidable David Benavidez instead.

“And I know how he feels after losing to Bivol (WBA lightweight champ Dimitry Bivol, who bested Canelo in 2022), so he’s been looking for easier fights ever since. Also, I’m not the one who’s afraid of fighting Benavidez or Crawford. Therefore, I knew he was wasting our time and making excuses with big amounts of money that can’t be paid. So I’m continuing my way to make big fights that serve the boxing world, and he’s on his way to making easy show-only fights.”

Canelo reposted Alalshikh’s post online Wednesday with laughing face emojis above it. While Alalshikh is literally changing the sport of boxing, Canelo, representing in a sense the old guard, is making it clear he isn’t impressed. The man has good reason to be as self assured as he is. Canelo, after all, has earned an all time great resume, having fought (and usually defeated) one big name after another. Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Gennady Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev, Daniel Jacobs, and Erislandy Lara have all met Canelo in the ring.

What’s more, Crawford is far smaller than Canelo. He’s a junior middleweight at the moment, while Canelo is a supermiddleweight. A matchup between the two men would be a lucrative, high profile affair, true, but would it be a wise one?