By Sean Jones: Fans want to see Canelo Alvarez step up the level of his competition by battling David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, and Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in his next three fights.
There’s nothing wrong with Canelo running the gauntlet now against Benavidez, Charlo & Ramirez. Even if Canelo loses to all three of those guys, he’d still be young at 32 and would have a lot of career left, as long he returns to carefully picking his opponents like he’s consistently been doing since he turned pro in 2005.
Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) has had it easy, beating average fighters like Billy Joe Saunders, Caleb Plant, Avni Yildirim, and Rocky Fielding. No one asked Canelo to fight the shot-looking 40-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin last month on September 17th.
That fight was so past its sell-by-date that it wasn’t even funny, as Golovkin has rarely been fighting, facing poor opposition while waiting for Canelo to give him that third payday.
Canelo needs to start giving the fans the fights that they want to see because he’s not hit the mark since fighting Golovkin for the second time in 2018. Every fight since then for Canelo has been against guys that the fans weren’t excited about seeing.
“Golovkin showed his age. He’s 40 and has been in a lot of wars. Not necessarily wars but a lot of wear & tear throughout the years, and Canelo was just the fresher fighter in there,” said Alexis Rocha to K.O. Artist Sports, giving his view on Canelo Alvarez’s recent victory over Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th in their trilogy fight.
“I think Canelo is still in his prime, but with that being said, I see him in another two or possibly three more fights calling it a career.
“He’s accomplished so much already, and yet he’s so young, but why are you going to accomplish so much and keep fighting for what?
“He’s making great money,” Rocha said about Canelo. “He’s already been the undisputed world champion at 168, and he’s got a title at 175. I see that.
“I know he said before that he’s not scared to fight any Mexicans, but I definitely want to see him in there with Zurdo Ramirez, the winner of Bivol-Ramirez. I want to see him against the winner of that. I want to see him against David Benavidez and possibly Charlo,” said Rocha.
