Canelo Alvarez says he fell asleep while watching IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant’s last title defense against Caleb Truax on January 30th.
In an interview with RingTV, Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) admitted to dozing after the third round due to a combination of boredom and fatigue.
Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) is someone that Canelo could wind up facing this Saturday for the undisputed 168-pound championship.
To get to that fight, Canelo will need to successfully defend his WBA/WBC super middleweight titles this Saturday night against Avni Yildirim and then defeat WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders on May 8th.
The chances are high that Canelo beats his WBC mandatory Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs) in their main event fight on DAZN on Saturday.
Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs) could prove to be a difficult opponent for Canelo due to his boxing ability. Obviously, Billy Joe will have problems if he’s forced to beat Canelo by a decision.
“I saw two, three rounds of it, and I fell asleep,” Canelo said to RingTV about Caleb Plant’s last fight against Truax. “Maybe both,” said Canelo when asked if he fell asleep out of boredom or fatigue.
You can argue that Canelo’s recent fight against former WBA super-middleweight champion Callum Smith was just as boring as the Plant vs. Truax fight.
Canelo fought like he was conserving his energy all night and didn’t throw a lot of shots. It was an Adrien Broner type of low output performance by Alvarez.
The only fights with Canelo that have been exciting in the last five years were his two contests against Gennadiy Golovkin. That was because Golovkin was putting huge pressure on Canelo.
In Alvarez’s other fights against these guys, it was mostly boring slow-paced action:
- Sergey Kovalev
- Daniel Jacobs
- Rocky Fielding
- Amir Khan
- Liam Smith
- Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
Alvarez wants to finish unifying the 168-lb division
“I have placed the goal of winning all the titles at 168 pounds because that will create one more stage of history in boxing for me,” said Canelo.
“I know Yildirim maybe doesn’t have the big qualities but that’s not my problem.”
You got to like Canelo’s attitude about facing mediocre opposition. He sees it as his opponent’s problems, but not his own.
Canelo fails to see that when you face weak opposition like Yildirim, Khan, Fielding, and a past his prime Sergey Kovalev, it reflects on him. It shows that Canelo is an opportunist with the way he selects his opposition.
When a fighter like Canelo faces guys that fans have no interest in seeing, it hurts his legacy. Canelo really shouldn’t be fighting Yildirim.
He should be taking on David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, Gennadiy Golovkin, or Demetrius Andrade.
Canelo willing to fight Golovkin in December
“I’m open to anything,” Canelo said about a possible fight against Gennadiy Golovkin in December. “And as I said, I want the best fights for the people, for the fans. If that fight (Golovkin is there), then why not?”
It’ll be great if Canelo does fight Golovkin in December, but it’s still unlikely to happen though. Alvarez will take some punishment in his fight against Plant in September, and he probably won’t be able to jump back in the ring two months later to face GGG.
