Canelo Alvarez has fought 67 times in a long and storied professional boxing career, and at the age of 35 he may be entering the championship rounds.
The Mexican megastar is coming off what even he admitted was a boring decision victory over William Scull to once again become the undisputed super-middleweight champion of the world.
That bloodless victory was yet another example of the 35-year-old from Guadalajara being forced to chase an overmatched opponent who was more concerned with survival than actually putting up a fight.
It was the first outing on a blockbusting four-fight deal Canelo has signed with Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season, and next up is that eagerly-awaited dream match with welterweight and light-middleweight king Terence Crawford.
Alvarez and Crawford (41-0) will meet on Saturday September 13 in the United States – either in Las Vegas, New York or Los Angeles – in what could be the fight of the year. Surely if anything can bring Canelo back to his best, it is this.
One man though believes it could also be the professional swansong for Canelo – his former promoter Eddie Hearn. The Matchroom Boxing supremo has a hunch we should savour every moment of Canelo vs Crawford for one very big reason.
Eddie Hearn on Canelo
Hearn told Keith Idec of Ring magazine: “I believe the deal with His Excellency is for three [more] fights.
“I think the Crawford fight will be his last fight. There’s no intel there and I’ve not had any conversations with him. But after watching that Scull fight – and don’t get me wrong, Scull was unbelievably negative – after Crawford, what is there to do? Do you wanna go to England and have a fight? Yeah, I guess that could appeal to [him]. But I don’t know.I just think Father Time, the body, the mojo, I don’t know.”
While Canelo vs Crawford is most definitely now a go, Hearn believes it is not a fight that the Mexican 100 percent relishes.
“I actually thought during the Scull fight, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he just didn’t fight Crawford. Because he’s never really liked the fight, as a fight. Because I think he feels like, ‘Why would I get credit like beating a guy three divisions below me, two divisions now, below me?’ And he moves a lot and he’s good and he’s awkward and he’s just gonna be [difficult].
“But obviously the money just becomes so big that he’s gonna take the fight. I think it’s probably more the training camps [that will make Alvarez retire]. It’s a huge toll on the body.”
Canelo vs Crawford weight
The weight for Canelo vs Crawford will be at the super-middleweight limit of 168lbs (12st). That’s a considerable step up for Crawford, who had been a career welterweight since last year. A gap of three weight classes and 21lbs. ‘Bud’ did though have one outing at light-middleweight (154lbs) last August when he outpointed Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles.
What are the odds?
Canelo is the favourite, but only slightly. He’s a 4/7 shot with Crawford a 7/4 underdog. The difference is tiny. The Draw is a 16/1 bet.
