Though Canelo Alvarez’ winning performance over Sergey Kovalev has gained mixed reviews – some fans and experts being impressed with the manner in which the middleweight king took out a much bigger man, others saying the fight was boring and Kovalev was “on the way down” before the fight – there are a good number of people stating how the Mexican superstar is now fully deserving of being ranked as the number-one best in the sport pound-for-pound.
Now a four-weight world champ (154, 160, 168 and 175), Canelo has certainly taken more risks than his P-4-P rivals. Terence Crawford, for some the best boxer on the planet regardless of weight, has basically had a wasted 2019 (so far, with just over eight weeks to go) – with just one fight, this an easy, and easy to predict, win over a faded Amir Khan. Gennady Golovkin looked old and tired (he might have carried an illness into the ring with him) in his win over Sergiy Derevyanchenko. Vasyl Lomachenko, according to some, looked “ordinary” in his decision win over Luke Campbell. While emerging potential stars Naoya Inoue, Errol Spence and Oleksandr Usyk have yet to earn big wins to match those of Canelo.
So right now, Canelo and his supporters can indeed make a great case that he is indeed the P-4-P best out there. It’s some achievment winning world titles at four weights, even today, with more and more belts available, and Canelo deserves his respect. Again, he is the biggest and the best when it comes to taking a risk; daring, as the saying goes, to be great.
Canelo now has to decide what he does next: go back down in weight, to either 160 or 168, or stick around at light-heavyweight. Has anoy other active fighter got as many big and exciting options as Canelo has? Sure, Canelo has his critics, but what cannot be taken away from him is the fact that he is a fighter who seeks the lofty challenges. It’s up to Crawford, Lomachenko, Spence and the other P-4-P entrants to up their game and do what Canelo has done and is doing.
Agree or disagree?