Saul Canelo Alvarez and WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev are close to having a fight between them finalized this week for November 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the fight that Canelo wants so that he can go after a fourth division world title.
Canelo will be moving up in weight a couple of divisions to fight the bigger Kovalev for his WBO 175-lb belt. The reaction from fans in this fight is a mixed one. A lot of the boxing fans see the 36-year-old Kovalev as a guy many years past his prime. He was almost beaten by his last opponent Anthony Yarde last month on August 24.
Kovalev has lost several times in the last two years to Andre Ward and Eleider Alvarez. Hes not considered the #1 fighter at light heavyweight or even #3. Canelo wisely picked out what fans see as the weakest of the champions at 175. The talented champions at light heavyweight are Artur Beterbiev, Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Dmitry Bivol. It’s unlikely Canelo would beat any of them. Hence, he’s not going after any of them. He’s picked out the old lion Kovalev to beat up to win his WBO title.
Fans need to hold their breath and hope that the Canelo-Kovalev fight negotiations can get completed. They recently attempted to put a fight together between, but failed. Likewise, Golden Boy’s negotiations with Sergiy Derevyanchenko for a title defense for Canelo failed as well. Canelo ended up losing his IBF belt.
Kovalev (34-3-1 29 KOs) is on board with defending his belt against Canelo (52-1-2, 35 KOs) despite him never having fought in the 175-lb weight class.
This is a fight that will take place at the full 175 pound weight for the light heavyweight division. There won’t be a catch-weight or a rehydration clause to give Canelo, 29, and edge against the 36-year-old Kovalev.
Canelo fought his last opponent Daniel Jacobs with a rehydration clause, and he’s fought a number of opponents using catchweights over the years. In a fight where it backfired on Canelo was when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at a catchweight in 2017. Chavez Jr. was so weakened from having drained down to the 164 1/2 pound catchweight limit that he couldn’t put up a fight. The bout was always going to be a mismatch in favor of Canelo, but the catchweight made it even worse.
