Boxing great Ricky Hatton gives Callum Smith an excellent chance of beating Canelo Alvarez this Saturday night if he’s in prime form and not struggling to make the 168-pound limit.
Smith’s ability to throw with devasting power to the body gives him a perfect chance of beating the Mexican superstar. Canelo is superb at moving his head to avoid headshots, but he’s vulnerable to the body, and he doesn’t like it down there.
Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) and Callum will be meeting this weekend on December 19th in the main event live on DAZN at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
As one would expect, Alvarez, 30, is the favorite despite being the challenger and giving away a massive seven-inches in height to the 6’3″ Smith.
Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) didn’t look the best version of himself in successfully defending his WBA super-middleweight title a year ago against John Ryder in November 2019.
Although Smith won a 12 round unanimous decision, the fight appeared closer than the judges’ scores.
If not for that performance by Smith, he’d likely be the favorite against Canelo because he been destroying his opponents one after another before then. Who knows?
Perhaps Callum wasn’t properly motivated for the fight against the weak-punching, tiny 5’8″ ‘Gorrila’ Ryder because he didn’t look like the same guy that had destroyed George Groves, Erik Skoglund, and Hassan N’Dam.
Is Callum struggling at the weight?
“He’s got a great chance. Callum’s not got a lot of miles on the clock, he’s quite fresh in them terms,” said Ricky Hatton. “His ability is without question.
“He’s a fantastic boxer. It might be the right fight at the right time. Canelo has had those fights with Golovkin, and he’s had a few wars.
He had the fight with [Sergey] Kovalev, which was quite decent and a tough fight. You talk about timing in this game. It might be the right time and the right fight.
“Sometimes Callum looks a million dollars, and sometimes he looks a little bit shaky.
I just wonder because you look at the size of him. Surely, he can’t do the weight easy when you look at the height and size of him.
“Sometimes that looks like that might have been the case. He [Callum] might have struggled with the weight a few times.
“Sometimes he looks a million dollars, and sometimes he looks depleted of energy. But he’ll go into it as the underdog,” Hatton said of Smith being the underdog for the Alvarez fight.
“Most people will say that of Canelo, but it might be the right fight at the right time. He’s got the ability to do it, and he’s got the confidence. I think he’s got a great chance, yeah,” said Hatton.
Ricky might be on to something in speculating about Callum potentially having grown out of the 168-lb division.
If you looked at how emaciated he appeared in making weight for his last fight against Ryder a year, it’s logical to assume that he’s fighting on borrowed time for the super-middleweight division.
Smith had dark circles under both eyes, and he looked in ill health from having lost so much water weight to get down to 168. It’s now been a year since Callum fought, and he’s 30 now, and his problems the weight could resurface against Alvarez.
The Callum Smith that we saw against Ryder won’t last long against Canelo, who will tear him apart on the inside with body shots.
It’s likely the main reason why Canelo hand-picked Callum is because he saw how inept he was on the inside against Ryder. His power was completely neutralized by Ryder whenever he got inside, and it seems obvious that’s how Canelo will choose to fight him.
Hatton: Smith has a great chance
“That was a good while ago and a good performance by Matthew [Hatton against Canelo in 2011] at the time, but how he’s [Canelo] come on from that point, from where he was then to where he is now, to be the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world or top three or four.
“Yeah, he’s one hell of a fighter, but a top fighter can still get beat as proved in my career and so many fighters before me and after me.
“The underdog can sometimes win. So if you ask me, ‘Does Callum Smith have a chance of winning?’ Yes, absolutely. He has a great chance of winning,” said Hatton.
Everything is stacked against Smith in this fight, and I wouldn’t say that his chances of winning are “great.” This is what Smith is up against:
- Fighting in Canelo’s venue in San Antonio, Texas
- Most of the fans will be rooting for Canelo.
- Canelo is the A-side
- Smith struggling with the weight
- Alvarez an excellent inside fighter
It’s safe to say that Smith will need a knockout to win, and if he fails to accomplish that, he’ll lose just like Gennadiy Golovkin, Erislandy Lara, and Austin Trout did against the Mexican star.
Canelo has problems with bigger fighters
“I never envisioned Canelo Alvarez fighting at 168,” said Callum Smith. “Even when he stepped up and beat Rocky Fielding [in 2018], I thought he’d go back down to 160.
“I’ve always said that he’s the best 160 [pounder] in the world without a doubt. I never seen our paths crossing, and it was only when I seen him go up to 175.
“Then I kind of thought, if he wants to come back to 168, then no fight makes more sense than the one with me. I’m number one in the division.
“I remember watching Liam; he was at 154. I thought he [Alvarez] would go up to 160 and fight GGG. I never thought he’d go past that.
“Definitely, Kovalev had a lot of success in that fight,” Callum said about Canelo’s match against Sergey Kovalev in November 2019.
“Even in the [Daniel] Jacobs fight, I thought Canelo did win it, but Jacobs won a lot of rounds,” said Callum. “Even with a lot of Canelo’s wins, as good as they are, he loses rounds.
“He’s not invincible. He’s a very good fighter when he’s on form, but he switches off, and he can lose rounds. I’ve got to think I can do what Kovalev did and more.
“I’m not 37 [like Kovalev]. I’m young, and I’m in my prime years. I’m a world champion, and I just got to tactically get it right, which I believe Kovalev was doing early on, and use my strengths.
“I believe I can win rounds, and do enough to get the win,” said Smith in expressing confidence.
Canelo is definitely vulnerable against taller fighters that used their height and reach and keep the action long.
The 5’8″ Canelo is too short of competing with taller fighters when they’re disciplined and not giving him a chance to get in punching range, cutting off his ability to counter punch.
Smith: I’m hard to beat at my best
“I’m not only a champion, but I feel like a challenger in this fight,” said Smith. “I feel like this should the biggest win of my career without a doubt.
“I’m out to prove something. I’ve got something to gain in this fight. Technically, I just keep my own belts, providing I win, but it’s a big opportunity.
“Going over to America doesn’t bother me. I performed better when I went to New York and Saudi. When I got there, I listen and work on what I’ve been doing, whether that’s in Liverpool or abroad.
“I like the away trips. I’ve been on a few with the family. I’ve got a job to do, and I believe I’ll turn up and still be a world champion.
“I’ll be massive. I’m not sitting here saying that I’m the favorite. I’m the underdog with the bookies. I know I’m not supposed to win, but I’m a live underdog.
“I’ve worked out hard to get in the position I’m in to fully deserve this fight. Every ranking puts me #1 in the world.
“Canelo steps into my weight division, and I believe I’m the best in this division. So if he wants to be that, he has to beat me.
“I’ve said before, a motivated version of me that performs is very hard to beat. There’s a lot of other fighters out there for me to fight that are easier than Canelo Alvarez.
“I took this fight because it’s one that I think I win, and it’s the biggest fight possible.
“What a better way to end the year than to beat the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world at the moment,” said Callum Smith.
If Smith isn’t weight drained, and he’s ready for a shootout, he can beat Canelo. What Smith needs to focus on is to fight hard in the early rounds because that’s when he generally builds his leads.
In the second half of the fight, Canelo will gas out like he always does and lost most if not all of the rounds. If Smith wins at least four of the first six, he’ll have a good shot at getting the decision.
