Amer Abdullah of Skills Challenge Promotion reports that a fight between Canelo Alvarez and WBC cruiserweight champion Badou Jack is “90% agreed” for Saudi Arabia on a still-to-be-determined date.
Abdullah says they’ve agreed pretty much on everything but the weight for the fight. Shockingly, Canelo wants a tremendous catchweight of 168 or 175 lbs while still fighting for the WBC cruiserweight title.
The weight class is 200 lbs. In other words, Canelo wants to fight for the WBC cruiserweight title in another weight class at 168 or 175. That’s a problem for Abdullah, as it would for anybody. Abdullah points out that Badou walks around at 210 lbs while fighting at 200 lbs. For him to come down 25 to 32 lbs, it would be difficult.
If the fight is made, Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) will likely be getting a massive payday from the Saudis to face Badou (28-3-3, 17 KOs), who will be turning 40 in October and is coming off a twelfth round knockout victory over WBC cruiserweight champion Illunga Makabu last February in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
Abdullah says Skills Challenge could sign the superstar Canelo to a “multi-fight deal.”
If Canelo gets his way with the catchweight, it would give him an easy win and his fifth division world title. Canelo’s four division titles have come in the following weight classes:
- 175
- 168
- 160
- 154
This isn’t the fight that the boxing public in the U.S. and Mexico want to see from Canelo, as they want to watch him fight David Benavidez or rematch Dmitry Bivol.
It seems like Canelo’s focus at this point in his career is money and not taking risks by facing quality opposition. His loss to Bivol last year might have sapped the remaining ambition out of him, leaving the risk-averse shell, focused on money.
Badou Jack is an old guy, and not considered the best or even third best fighter at cruiserweight. He holds the WBC because he fought a weak champion, Illunga Makabu. Had Jack fought one of the younger more talented cruiserweight, he likely would have lost.
“We have 90% of the terms agreed to. I think out of the five or six terms there, we’ve agreed on the majority of them,” said Amer Abdullah of Skills Challenge to Boxing King Media about the Canelo vs. Badou fight.
“You can’t ask a guy [Jack] that walks around at 210, who fights at 200, to come in at super middleweight, light heavyweight. Again, you can’t have a guy 30 or 40 lbs to come down so that you can fight for a title in a different weight class,” said Abdullah.
