Before I start this let me first say that while I find the outcome of Saturday’s Canelo v Khan fight funny, in actuality there is nothing funny about such a brutal knockout. With that being said, combat sports in general always run the risk of harm to the competitors for the sake of entertainment and I am glad that Khan is at least functional as of this writing Now let’s get to the point, this fight should have never been made. I’ve said that from the announcement, all the way through the promotion, and even in the final seconds of Amir Khan concussed body hitting the canvas. I consider Amir a 140lb fighter who was moonlighting at 147 because that’s where the money was. Prior to taking this fight Amir had only fought four fights at the welterweight limit of 147 lbs. Of those four none where top 10 fighters, as a matter of fact the last top 10 fighter Amir Khan faced was Danny Garcia in 2012, a fight that ended in a stoppage by the ref after a dazed Khan was picking himself up off the canvas for a second time that night. So all things considered how the hell does Amir Khan get to fight the best 154lb* fighter in the world for the MIDDLEWEIGHT championship? Let me say that again, a guy who typically fights at 140-147 just got knocked out by a guy who is 154lbs* but has the middleweight belt, a belt that rightfully belongs to the men in the 160lb division.
“How Sway? “
The story on how Canelo obtained the middleweight belt is another article in and of itself so for this particular discussion we are going to focus on the sham tonight. You see there is the “new” stigma in boxing where every fighter has to establish themselves to a certain side in the negotiations. There’s the A side where we see the money being made. These are your headliners on the pay per view and the one making 8 figures for the fight. Then there is the B side which in today’s boxing negotiations just means that you take the blame for the fight if it doesn’t go through. Somewhere between Oscar De la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather , this A-side title became the “one ring to rule them all” type title. Oscar honestly started this when he set up the first fight with Floyd Mayweather and Floyd took it to a whole other level remaining undefeated and collecting almost 10x as much money at one point in the latter part of his career than the actual fight with Oscar De La Hoya. The title of PPV king has taken priority over the roots of boxing and self-preservation is a necessity for a PPV king. And that’s what we get nowadays fighters who are afraid to look bad or lose for fear that after a defeat fans and networks won’t tune in anymore. And the craziest part about that logic is that there are countless examples of boxers who have loss but still remained attractive to fans and networks. So how does this pertain to Canelo? Canelo is being groomed to be the next big thing in boxing. Much like GGG is being groomed to be the next big thing. When you break down their success over the last few years the only advantage Canelo has is his opponents have name recognition. As far as the sport goes both men essentially dominate a dead division but guys like Cotto, Mosely, Mayweather, Khan sound better and look better on your resume than Stevens, Macklin, Geale, Ouma. Hell the last person that Gennady fought was an 18-0 kid from Maryland and honestly I’m not even sure how he got the fight.
The Ruse
Canelo v Khan was always made to have Canelo look really good in front of an audience so that he can use this fight as leverage when he tells GGG he has to come to 155 lbs if he wants the belt. As the junior middleweight-middleweight champion Canelo has more victories versus welterweights than any other division. All signs point to Canelo aging out of the 154 lb division completely. He’s 25 years old and hasn’t’ fought at his normal weight class since 2013. Granted it’s just 1lb but if you can’t make the weight you have to move up or agree to a catch weight. They don’t make belts for a 155 lb champion so Canelo either has to move up to 160 or get guys from 160 to agree to a catch weight and have it sanctioned. The sanctioning hasn’t been a problem but getting the names to come down has been and this is where we will see the Canelo v GGG fight stalled for all eternity.
That is Canelo’s side of the story but let’s not act like GGG is without his faults in this spat. GGG has stated he would come down to fight Floyd Mayweather as low as 154 pounds but he won’t fight Canelo at 155 pounds for his belts? And why hasn’t he fought any of the top contenders in the middleweight division? The new baddest man on the planet has fought has beens and bottom level “top competition.” What I mean by that is he’s made a living off avoiding top 5 fighters in his division somehow. GGG has been active since 2006 in the middleweight division, and in 2006 Miguel Cotto (the man who beat the man for the middleweight belts) was still a small welterweight making his impact on the sport. In the 10 years since then the middleweight division has seen its share of worthy champions like Paul Williams, Kelly Pavlik, Sergio Martinez, Jermain Taylor, Bernard Hopkins but GGG hasn’t added not one of those names to his Resume in a 10-year career. Unfortunately, in the end he has nobody to blame but himself, and the idea that someone is actually running from GGG in that division just isn’t accurate. There has been plenty of time for GGG and his handlers to make moves if he’s as good as everyone makes him out to be and yet he’s chasing smaller guys trying to lay claim to the division, much like Canelo.
For now….we wait
This fight will be a negotiating nightmare for fans. It has all the makings of Mayweather v Pacquiao and the “what could have been” talks. Honestly the Mayweather v Pacquiao fiasco might not be as bad as this because while many say Floyd waited til Pacquiao “slowed down” the reality is that it didn’t necessarily benefit Floyd to wait until his reflexes declined through age either as he was slightly older than Manny. Regardless of which spectrum you’re on with Floyd v Manny they were closer in age than Canelo who is 25 years old and GGG who is 34 years old. Time is not on GGG’s side and that might be the only thing that will force him to concede to the Canelo camp’s demands and the fight gets made. He won’t really have much choice unless the sanctioning bodies strip Canelo, and well I don’t want to start a conspiracy theory but Mexican champions hardly ever get stripped by a sanctioning body especially the WBC. I often talk about the levels of boxing and how there is a right way to make a name in the sport and a wrong way. The way everyone goes about it now is the wrong way, many of these self-entitled fighters aren’t really drawing the “A Side” type numbers they think they are. Canelo is definitely a bigger draw than GGG but you can argue that’s more due to the fact his opponents were established names rather than he himself being the established name, and the opponents have hardly ever been evenly matched usually giving up 8 lbs most of the time or in Angulo and Kirkland’s case, inactive for about two years prior to the fight. So buckle up fight fans we’ve got two spoiled children about to sit down at the table and negotiate. I for one , won’t get my hopes up.
