The weight limit was increased to 155 lbs due to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s team asking for the weight increase. Canelo paid Angulo $100,000 for being a pound over, according to Fightnews. Canelo looked totally drained at 155. With that said, Alfredo Angulo also game in over the limit at 154.5. Canelo needs to think seriously about moving up to middleweight, because draining down to 154 to fight mostly welterweights isn’t going to work too much longer. With Canelo rehydrating to the low 170s, he’s definitely someone that should be fighting in the middleweight division. He should have made the move last year, but by hanging around at 154, Canelo got the fight against Floyd Mayweather last September.
It’s also allowed him to look better than he might actually be by having welterweights – Matthew Hatton, Kermit Cintron, Alfonso Gomez, Shane Mosley and Josesito Lopez – move up to 154 to fight him instead of Canelo fighting actual junior middleweights like Erislandy Lara.
This fight will be at middleweight, which could be perfect for Canelo to get his toes wet for a future move up in weight. At some point, Canelo will have to move up because this kind of thing where the weight limit is moved up at the last second can’t continue on into the future due to it limiting his ability to try and capture world titles in the division.
Angulo said he hopes that the fight will be “toe-to-toe” action. That’s probably his only chance of winning, because if Canelo is able to dance around the ring and jab him from afar, Angulo won’t stand a chance. He’s too slow and his game isn’t built on beating a boxer. He has to force Canelo to fight hard in each round, and then really push hard for a knockout in the 2nd half of the fight when Canelo will likely be tired and perched against the ropes.
Saul Alvarez 155 – Alfredo Angulo 154.5
Leo Santa Cruz 122 – Cristian Mijares 122
Jorge Linares 134.5 – Nihito Arakawa 134.5
Sergio Thompson 135 – Ricardo Alvarez 135
