ESPN writer Dan Rafael says that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer e-mailed him saying that the reports about Floyd Mayweather Jr. wanting a fight with WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to take place at 147 lbs. isn’t true.
It’s interesting that Schaefer is saying that because Mayweather’s father Floyd Sr. said in an interview today that Canelo has to come down to 147 for the fight to happen in September, and that he won’t let Floyd Jr. fight the 172 pound Canelo due to the huge weight difference between the two fighters.
Mayweather came into his fight against Robert Guerrero at 146 the night of the fight this month, whereas Canelo weighed 172 lbs. night of his fight last month against Austin Trout. That’s a 26 pound weight difference between Mayweather and Canelo. If they were heavyweights, it might not be a big deal, but it’s a big deal with Canelo and Mayweather.
Canelo is weighing as much as light heavyweights, and he wants to fight a welterweight in Mayweather.
Rafael said this on his twitter: “Schaefer e-mailed me, said as he works on Floyd-Canelo reports Floyd insists ‘on 147 & Canelo would be OK with a catchweight as BS.’”
If we’re to read in between the lines here it looks like Mayweather is ok with fighting Canelo at 154. If so, more power to him, but I hope he’s ready to fight a guy that will be close to 30 pounds heavier than him the night of the fight. It might not be so bad because with that huge weight advantage that Canelo has going for him, Mayweather will have a built in excuse should he lose the fight.
He can always blame it on the weight, and few people would disagree with him because it’s not as if Canelo has ever fought anyone outweighing him by 26 pounds. I’d like to see him take a fight like that, but he’s practically not even fighting guys from his own weight division at 154. Look at the guys Canelo has fought in the last two years: Matthew Hatton [welterweight], Josesito Lopez [welterweight], Alfonso Gomez [welterweight], and Kermit Cintron [welterweight].
Rafael continued “Schaefer: All good, working on the fight. So far, so good. It’s amazing how some of these other [sites] are spreading all these wrong stories.”
I think Schaefer might be the one that ends up disappointed when he can’t put the fight together. He seems pretty optimistic but I’d be very surprised if the fight gets made and so would Rafael.
Rafael said “My view: I hope Floyd-Canelo gets done as much as anyone. I know Schaefer is working hard on it. That said, I’ll believe it when I see it.”