Canelo Alvarez is taking his drop in the pound-for-pound rating kind of hard, choosing not to accept his drop to the #6 spot after his loss to Dmitry Bivol on May 7th.
Canelo feels that he should still be #1 in the pound-for-pound ratings because he’s taking risks by moving up in weight from division to division, fighting bigger guys.
Perhaps one reason why Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) was dropped from #1 to #6 was how poor he looked in terms of his boxing skills in comparison to WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs).
Canelo can’t say that he was outweighed by Bivol because the champion only rehydrated to 183 lbs on the night of the fight.
The only advantages the 6’0″ Bivol had were in height and a slight one in reach against the 5’8 1/2″ Canelo. That’s not why he beat Canelo. Bivol was the better-skilled fighter and had by far the better engine.
“The truth is that I don’t know how they handle that kind of thing, but I still feel I’m the best,” Canelo said to DAZN about him being lowered in Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound ratings.
Someone needs to talk some sense into Canelo and make him understand that there are better fighters than him in the top five slots and even the bottom four in the pound-for-pound ratings.
Canelo needs to improve his fundamentals, and he needs drastic help with his cardio, which is totally awful.
We’ve seen Canelo fatigue rapidly in his fights, but he’s gotten away with his poor stamina due to his focus on fighting weak paper champions at 168.
Canelo was able to walk down the British fighters Billy Joe Saunders, Rocky Fielding, and Ricky Fielding to beat them with single shots without being forced to fight hard.
What you’ll notice is Canelo didn’t fight any of the talented 168-pounders like David Morrell Jr and David Benavidez, which would have forced him to fight hard. They likely would have exposed Canelo in the same way that Bivol did if he’d dared fight them.
“Tell me another fighter who is trying in other categories, going down and up in weight, wanting to achieve different kinds of things. Nobody has done that,” Canelo said.
Canelo would have received more credit for moving up in weight if he’d fought the best at 168 in Benavidez and Morrell Jr. Likewise when Canelo moved up to 175 in 2019, he fought a shot to pieces Sergey Kovalev instead of Bivol or Artur Beterbiev.
Shakur Stevenson has been moving up in weight, and he’s looking better than Canelo in doing it. We’ll likely see the same thing from Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford when they move up to 154.
“I do it. I risk everything to keep making history when I don’t need to risk anything,” said Canelo. “I’ve already achieved so many things.
“I’m in a position where I don’t have to risk anything, and I still do it, and nobody does that when they are in a position like the one I’m in. So personally, I still feel I’m the best in the world,” said Canelo.
