Boxing News: Canelo's voluntary title defence likely at 155 lbs

WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has yet to name an opponent for his voluntary title defence, but the Mexican champ could be looking at fighting his next foe at a catchweight of 155 pounds.

Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) has been insistent in fighting opponents at 155 pounds despite being in the middleweight division. Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs), his mandatory challenger for his WBC middleweight title belt, was no exception for Alvarez’s stipulations, and neither would be his challenger in May.

According to Dan Ambrose of Boxing News 24, it would make “zero sense” for Alvarez to use a catchweight in his voluntary title defence, given the Mexican’s ability to instantly rehydrate as much as 170 pounds during fight nights. Ambrose also noted that catchweight-stipulated matches could make Alvarez look like an “illegitimate champion” for some boxing fans.

“While it’s one thing for Canelo to be using catch-weights for potentially difficult opponents like Cotto and Gennady Golovkin, but it’s something different if Canelo chooses to use catch-weights for his title defenses against voluntary challengers,” Ambrose wrote. “Being young, Canelo is able to take off huge amounts of weight and rehydrate up in weight to the 170s or possibly even higher in order to get an advantage.”

In all of Alvarez’s fights in his boxing career, he has never gone up to the middleweight’s full limit of 160 pounds. His last nine fights, eight of which he won, were all at a catchweight of around 154-155 pounds, according to Boxrec. However, it is difficult to take away the fact that Alvarez looks bigger during the actual fight as he has been insisting that he is a natural junior middleweight.

Meanwhile, Golovkin, who is expected to face Alvarez in September for the WBC middleweight title, is also set for a voluntary title defence against an unnamed opponent. Golovkin’s camp reportedly offered WBO middleweight champ Billy Joe Saunders a $4 million purse for a bout in March or April. There is no approval from Saunders’ camp on the proposed deal, but the British boxer seems ready to take on “GGG” in the boxing ring.

“He [Golovkin] also said on his website [Twitter] me in April and Canelo afterwards,” Saunders told iFL TV. I want to test myself. The only way I’m going to prove it is getting in these tough fights and putting myself on a pedestal and see if I’m up there with Golovkin.”