Ultimately, The key To Canelo Fight On Apple Tv Is Revealed

On the other hand, Makabu has faced only one fighter you’ve heard of - Tony Bellew - and was stopped in three rounds. On one hand, a 168-pounder is moving up two weight classes to face a major titleholder who weighed 197½ pounds for his most-recent fight and has 25 knockouts in 28 victories. Finally, we arrive at Alvarez’s decision to face cruiserweight titleholder Makabu. Then came an interesting move: Again bent on adding a title in another division, he jumped from 160 pounds to 175 to face then-WBO titleholder Sergey Kovalev in November 2019. I respected that decision because I respected Kovalev, who was aging but still a competent fighter and naturally bigger than Alvarez. Indeed, Kovalev, who was stopped in 11 rounds, was the most vulnerable of the 175-pound champions. The IBF and WBC light heavyweight champion has 36 years of experience, 16 wins from 16 fights - all via KO - and is widely regarded as the very best at 175. If Canelo regards a sustained challenge at the weight to be a real test, then he might wish to have a couple of liveners with other challengers and champions before he steps up to meet the Russian.

But Alvarez won't stop bringing up the possibility of making a full-time move to 175 pounds to challenge the likes of unbeaten champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. At the same time, the move seems gimmicky, particularly when real, exciting challenges against fighters closer to his size are available. And here’s the kicker: WBC officials announced when they created the bridgerweight division that they planned to lower the cruiserweight limit from 200 pounds to 190. I’m not clear on when they plan to do that but I’m guessing it will happen before the Alvarez-Makabu fight, which would make Makabu’s size advantage more manageable. The two had to be separated one more time before they were escorted off the stage. Dmitry Bivol is one of two Russians on this list who could offer Alvarez more than just the thrill and the challenge of a single fight. That Triple Crown is rarely obtained in boxing, which makes this recognition even more impressive. “That’s boxing, anyone can get caught, and we’ll be back,” said Plant. Plant has made three defenses of his IBF title since defeating Uzcategui, but the matchmaking has been questionable enough throughout a series of showcase fights that we failed to learn much regarding his true top-end ability.

At 39, Golovkin has limited scope to earn further major paydays, and offers the chance for Alvarez to claim the IBF middleweight belt. Canelo won by decision in the second match and perhaps there may have been cause for a third soon after, but the Mexican is not a man to tread water, as we can see from his consequent move up to 175lbs for the WBO light heavyweight belt, and his move down to capture all five of the major super middleweight belts. In a time of fragmented titles, fighters who hold all four major belts provide some clarity as to whom is the best in a particular division. If Canelo decides to stake a claim on the division and take on further challenges to assert his credibility, then Benavidez’s unbeaten record could make him a tempting match-up. However, all this feels like retreading old ground given the sparkling 11 months delivered in the division.

Yildirim is 29 years old and he’s the fighter he is, and if what we saw Saturday were his “transformations” and “improvements,” he might want to go back to the old ways. Alvarez battered Yildirim throughout the three rounds and advanced his glittery record to 55-1-2 in style. Even Plant's most recent outing, a shutout decision across the board over 12 rounds against faded former champion Caleb Truax, left more questions than answers as Plant dominated yet did so without much flair or inspiration. I believe the best potential opponents at 168 or below were David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo and Gennadiy Golovkin, all of whom would have made for more compelling - and, most likely, more competitive - fights than the titleholders did. Considering both are incredibly dangerous opponents and anything but households names, it's the kind of high risk and low reward prophecy that most elite fighters would avoid considering.