“Only Ten Mexican Champions Have Won World Titles In Three Weight Classes”
Is Mexican superstar and current middleweight king Canelo Alvarez more interested, more motivated and inspired, by winning multiple word titles than he is in fighting a deciding fight with Gennady Golovkin? Speaking ahead of his December 15 challenge of WBA “regular” super-middleweight champ Rocky Fielding, Canelo spoke of how “only ten Mexican champions have titles in three weight classes.”
Canelo is of course a massive betting favourite to relieve Fielding of his belt when he fights him at Madison Square Garden in New York just before Christmas, and as such, if he is victorious as expected, Canelo will become the 11th Mexican world champ to have won major belts at three weight classes (or more). But would this equate to greatness? Doesn’t Canelo have unfinished business down at middleweight?
It may be that Canelo, should he destroy Fielding and enjoy the feel of being a 168 pound fighter, opts to stay put. GGG may or may not move up himself, but for the time being Canelo would have made a little bit of Mexican boxing history, adding his name to the following champs from his homeland who won word titles at three or more weights:
Julio Cesar Chavez: super-feather, lightweight and light-welterweight.
Oscar De La Hoya: super-feather, lightweight, light-welterweight, light-middleweight, middleweight.
Johnny Tapia: super-flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight.
Marco Antonio Barrera: super-bantam, featherweight, super-featherweight.
Erik Morales: super-bantamweight, featherweight, super-featherweight.
Fernando Montiel: flyweight, super-flyweight, bantamweight.
Jorge Arce: light-fly, flyweight, super-flyweight, bantamweight.
Juan Manuel Marquez: featherweight, super-featherweight, lightweight.
Mikey Garcia: featherweight, super-featherweight, lightweight.
So, can Canelo do it; can he become a three-weight world champ – at 154, 160 and at 168? And if so, does this make him a great? That third fight with Golovkin won’t go away, nor will fan desire to see it. But for the time being, if Canelo does as expected and adds that version of the WBA super-middleweight title to his growing collection, the pound-for-pound star will have had some eventful 2018.
Who knows what 2019 may hold for Canelo.
