By Miguel Maravilla
Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) will have the biggest challenge of his career when he takes on three-time light heavyweight world champion and current WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 28 KOs) on November 2nd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and live on DAZN.
“I feel great about this fight. Kovalev is a great fighter. This is what motivates me taking a risk,” Canelo told Fightnews.com®. “Anything that represents a challenge is great for me. I feel that my abilities will be the key to victory.”
Coming off a unanimous decision over former world champion Daniel Jacobs in May, Alvarez was impressive in edging out the Brooklyn fighter and unifying the IBF middleweight title.
“I felt great in that fight and I came out with the victory. It was after that fight, about two weeks after that fight when I began looking at Kovalev as a potential opponent,” Canelo said.
The 29-year-old, Alvarez was recently stripped of his IBF middleweight title for not fighting number one rated Sergey Derevechenko. What followed was a series of finger-pointing amongst camp members as Canelo expressed his disappointment.
“It’s an unfortunate situation. I just felt I had my hands were tied and I couldn’t do nothing about it,” Canelo said on being stripped of the IBF title
Canelo will be moving up in weight as he will attempt to win his fourth world title in four weight classes.
“It’s important to be a four-division world champion,” Canelo said. You need to take risks to build a legacy.”
Winning his first world title at 154, Alvarez has also won titles at 160 defeating Miguel Cotto, unifying the middleweight title with a win over Gennady Golovkin in their rematch. Last December he added more to his resume when he stopped Rocky Fielding at Madison Square Garden, winning the WBA World super middleweight title.
“This is a challenge for my legacy,” Canelo said.
Now Canelo goes up against the hard-hitting Russian slugger, Kovalev.
“I respect Kovalev. We met back in 2012 and I never thought I would fight him,” Canelo stated. “He has a very difficult style.”
Just when it seemed that Kovalev was done after being stopped by Eleider Alvarez last summer. The Krusher has since bounced back, avenging his K.O loss in winning a unanimous decision over Eleider Alvarez. Kovalev is coming off a stoppage over top-rated Anthony Yarde last month. Now he looks to add another Alvarez to his list of defeated opponents.
“Kovalev is the best at his division. He has fought a lot of great fighters and just defeated the number one mandatory challenger. He has fought Hopkins and did what he had to do. I thought Kovalev surprised Andre Ward in that first fight,” Canelo said.
With the fight over a month away, Canelo and his team, trainer Eddie Reynoso and his father, manager Jose “Chepo” Reynoso have been preparing for Kovalev in San Diego, California. Canelo talked about his camp.
“It’s been good. Eddie and Chepo always do a good job. I’m ready,” said Canelo, who is looking to become one of only four Mexicans to win four world titles in four weight classes. If victorious, Canelo will join the list with Mexican legends Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Jorge Arce.
“I want to go down as one of the best fighters in Mexican and boxing history,” Canelo commented.
Despite those accomplishments, the boxing fans and most particularly the hardcore Mexican boxing fans will not be satisfied until he steps in the ring a third time with his arch-rival former middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
“Gennady Golovkin don’t represent anything for me,” Canelo on fighting Golovkin a third time.
Promoter Oscar De La Hoya stated that “next year we will definitely see a third fight between Canelo and Golovkin. For now, let’s stay tuned for what’s next.”
“Oscar says lots of things that don’t make sense,” Canelo said. “Right now my focus is Kovalev and winning that fourth world title in four weight divisions.”
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Canelo, with De La Hoya and hundreds of millions in revenue potential behind you…….you can be 12 division world champion!
Oscar knows Kovalev is shot. KO for Clenbuterolo by body shots.
The would have been a very interesting match-up 5, maybe 3 years ago but Kovalev has looked terrible over his last 5 fights, even in winning. His private life is in turmoil and his boxing skills diminished, Canelo in 8.
In reality, Gennady Golovkin represents two asterisks on Canelo’s record, he should have two more losses.
Don’t forget the “win” over Lara.
He’s been given the “benefit of the doubt” 3 times in his career, Lara and GGG 1 & 2.
Even in the loss against Floyd, where he was thoroughly dominated, he got a gift “majority decision”.
yeah Canelo’s resume is phenomenally misleading. The most unfortunate part about the subjective scoring system is how quickly people forget. Canelo could easily have 4 losses on his record and none of them would have been considered controversial. Ironically the one he actually lost had the most repercussions, as CJ Ross who gave him that inexplicable draw had to quit straight after. Canelo is a great fighter but his position a P4P megastar bugs me.
I think Canelo’s statement when he says Oscar says a lot of things that don’t make sense is very telling. He also sided with Ryan Garcia in his criticism of Golden Boy promotions. Sounds like he is not happy with Oscar at the moment.
He better stay with Oscar cause Oscar’s got the judges on his side and as long as Canelo is his fighter, Canelo is safe.
It’s unfortunate that boxing has become more of a circus act these days especially with these 2 clowns, Oscar and Canelo. The world knows his fights are fixed because they got the judges in their back pockets. Canelo is all hype. Anyone remember when he and Chavez promised to wage war when they fought? It turned out to be more of an exibition sparring match.
“Oscar says lots of things that don’t make sense,”Quote of the year
Many suckers will pay to see this, but isn’t it obvious that Kovalev’s best days are in his rear view mirror? Nevertheless, it is a smart marketing move for Canelo and Golden Boy and this is a business after all is said and done.
Its a combat SPORT between two athletes!
The business aspect of it is secondary.
Lol wrong. The business aspect comes before the fight and dictates the entire match. This isn’t a sport anymore, it’s entertainment. It’s become a joke.
I can’t see how the hell canelo could knock kovalev out.
He couldn’t knock out little cotto and he couldn’t knock out drained Chavez jr. Kovalev should outjap Alvarez easily but who knows
First, let me say that Canelo is not only a very good fighter, but had fought some of the best competition out there. I don’t care if Kovalev is on the downhill side of his career his jab and size still makes this fight far from a gimme.
With all that said, the idea that Canelo is trying to become a 4 Division World Champion is a JOKE! I thought he lost the first fight with GGG and at best only deserved a Draw in the second fight. Considering that was the closest he’s come to being the King of any Division I just laugh at him thinking anyone buys he could become a 4 Division Champ.
Note to Canelo: PICK A DIVISION AND UNIFY IT!!! Maybe then the fans will recognize you as something more than an overpaid contender.
I meant overpaid pretender. Posting from a phone has it’s pitfalls.
yeah I agree. Canelo is a great fighter, but the way they are trying to package him as this modern day Roy jones Jr or even Pacquiao is a joke. He has left so many unanswered questions at his preferred weight class that his foray up the weights is a little laughable. It would be sweet if he got destroyed by Kovalev.
will Canelo force weight clauses on Kovalev? Such as making it a catchweight of 169 instead of 175 ?
Will he have a day of fight limit such as saying Kovalev can only rehydrate to 180? Will he make Kovalev wear soft boxers gloves, or let him wear punchers gloves? will he force an extra large ring that forces Kovalev to chase him.
When it is about Canelo I read more asinine comments on these boards. The essence of a balanced boxing analysis is completely lost, being replaced by a tirade of nonsensical hatred.
100% Agreed!
When it’s about ANY boxer, a fans opinion is his opinion!
Just because someone doesn’t agree with another fans opinion or analysis, it doesn’t make that opinion any less valid that any one else’s!
Hatred is subjective, many people see “hatred” in anything or anyone that disagrees with their them instead of a simple difference of opinion.
People aren’t always going to agree, tolerance of opinion is a cornerstone of our society, let’s respect it!
Sounds like your a Canelo hater. He is one of the best P4P fighters in this Era. He clearly defeated GGG a top P4P fighter. He’s writing history.
I honestly don’t care how many titles a fighter can get during his boxing career, but rather I appreciate more the legacy a fighter built as a champion, defending his title against the best opposition available. Canelo has failed in this. The legacy of Hopkins, Monzon, Louis and other great champions are the ones that counts, not how many paper titles a fighter can get. How many defenses Canelo did at 168? Did he face the best at 160 or 154. Hopkins alone made more defenses of his 160 title than Canelo did of all his titles combined. If he defeats Kovalev, how many times will he defend this title? I believe in what I said, number of paper titles will never impress me.
I really can’t believe all the haters on this site. This fight is awesome! He’s taking a huge risk. Moving up in weight like this doesn’t happen very much. Anyone can say Kov is over the hill but he is a world Champ. Canelo defeated a 168 world pound champ in devastating fashion. Kov still hits hard and is used to the weight. If Canelo wins this I don’t know how you can say he’s not #1P4P. Loma has not done anything like this. Not too many have. Especially this early in a career.
Please, everyone knows he lost against, Lara, he lost against Cotto and he definitely lost twice to GGG. It’s only because de la hoya buying judges he is where he is at. And now fighting and over the hill kovalev. True boxing fans know the truth.
Being a 4 weight champ nowadays isn’t remotely compable to be a 4 weight champ 40-50 years ago.
Going back 30 years ago it became farcical, anyone remember how Sugar Ray Leonard won 2 belts in different weight classes in 1 fight?
Back in ’88 he fought the 1 armed bandit Danny Lalonde, Lalonde was 1 of several LHW champs at the time, regarded by many as the weakest.
Leonard somehow managed to convince him to weigh in at SMW, but still have the LHW title on the line.
Before the fight Leonard was a genuine 3 weight champ, after 9 rounds win Lalonde he was now a significantly less genuine 5 weight champ.
The Leonard Lalonde farce make Alverez’s challenge of Kov seem relatively solid, but don’t be fooled, Kov is a faded, 36 yr old fighter who’s just off the back of a tough 11 round defends, he’s really not going to be physically ready for an early Nov fight.
But hey, this is boxing and there’s loads of money at stake, so forget a fair contest, let’s all get caught up in the media hype and worship the latest ‘superstar’.
So what if he’s never unified at any division, so what if he cherry picks the weakest ‘champs’, so what if he take illegal substances to gain an unfair advantage, so what if the judges have heavily favoured him in close fights. He’s a superstar, or so the media say…..
Every three pounds has a weight class now with fifteen champions in each one. easy for fighters now to evade threating challengers by moving to another “division.”
4 division champ .In truth no .
If you beat Callum Smith then yes .But Wba regular champ does not apply.No offence to Rocky fielding .
Seriously a lot of hate on these comments! He is talented despite what you fks say! Keep on hating and he will keep showing you all a true champ! Fk you haters!