Erislandy Lara Behind Him, What’s Next for Canelo Alvarez?
In the wake of his victory over Erislandy Lara, much of the talk about Canelo Alvarez has been related to the scorecards in that contest. Indeed, it was a close, hard to score fight, and intelligent pundits are allowed to debate the point. That’s the sport we signed up for, everybody.
But the victory itself is nothing to complain about — I had Canelo winning 115-113 — it was only the one outrageous outlier card which warrants criticism. As such, it’s time to move on from there. But what’s next for the Mexican superstar?
There are surprisingly few options, and only one clear and immediate path to go down. That’s a fight with the new Middleweight World Champion, Miguel Cotto.
Cotto notably turned down a $10 million to face Canelo, opting instead to go after Sergio Martinez at Madison Square Garden. The allure of fighting at MSG over the Puerto Rican Day parade weekend, a tradition of his, and going for a title in a 4th division, was too much to pass on.
It was a gambit which paid off perfectly. Cotto crushed Maravilla, capping off his career with his best-ever performance, and shocking most observers with how thoroughly he routed the champion. Now, he’s in an even better negotiating position for a Canelo fight, with the Middleweight title comfortably around his waist.
Further, there’s not much intriguing action for Canelo at 154 lbs right now. The division’s champion, Floyd Mayweather, is also a part-time inhabitant of those waters, and he has already given Canelo the lesson in the American School of Boxing which Lara was unable to provide from his Cuban technique.
A Lara rematch would be worthy, but it’s not necessary, and it’s unlikely to come to fruition. Contenders such as Carlos Molina and Demetrius Andrade may provide stiff challenges, but not big events. And even at just barely 24 years of age, Canelo is one of the sport’s true superstars, and he only has a taste for big events.
That leaves 160 lbs, and although Canelo said in the buildup to his fight against Lara that he has no intentions of moving up another division, he and his team surely have to have every intention of doing just that.
Canelo rehydrates on fight nights to approximately 170 lbs, entering the squared circle as a stout light heavyweight. Moving up another division is no stretch, and one wonders how long he could even continue comfortably sweating down to 154 lbs to begin with — or catch-weights of 155 lbs, as was the case for the Lara fight.
Once there, he finds an ideal champion to attempt to poach. One with a big name, but a small frame. One who would provide a huge event, without the huge risk that other potential opponents, say Gennady Golovkin, would offer.
While Cotto vs. Canelo would very much be a pick ’em fight and Canelo could easily be defeated, this is by no means David vs. Goliath. Indeed, Canelo would actually have the size and strength advantage over Cotto, not to mention a decade less wear and tear on his body and reflexes.
Moving up to middleweight to challenge Miguel Cotto is the only logical move and legitimate mega-fight for Canelo right now. As a fight fan, it’s also the exact type of fight you could eagerly anticipate for months, a lock to be a crowd-pleasing battle as two warriors with momentum at their backs and rabid fan-bases chanting their names laid it all on the line. In a world where awful pay-per-views are shoved down our throats and every fight becomes “the can’t miss event of the year!”, Cotto vs. Canelo would actually deliver.
