By Mauricio Sulaimán
Son of José Sulaimán – WBC President
It’s fight week! We are set to witness Saul “Canelo” Alvarez from Mexico facing Callum Smith from England. The WBC vacant super middleweight championship is at stake, a division which has proven to be of great activity and interest in the world, a division which has been dominated by British fighters in its history of existence since 1988. Nigel Benn, Richie Woodhall, Glenn Catley, Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch have all reigned in this category.
The fight will close a year that has seen so much sadness, heartache, anxiety and uncertainty, but with the great inspiring illumination that this event manages to offer us. A fight that will bring joy and release many pent-up emotions. It is precisely what all boxing fans need, rather, what we all need.
We have to recognize the greatness of both fighters for agreeing to face each other and thus give the world a truly great fight. Alvarez and Smith will be contesting the World Boxing Council Super Middleweight championship, plus the WBA and the recognition of The Ring magazine, as the best in the division.
Callum Smith represents a significant challenge for Canelo, as he is undefeated, possesses experience and will be fighting at his natural weight, in addition to having a lofty height advantage, to the tune of 18 centimeters.
Callum Smith won the World Boxing Super Series tournament in which he earned the WBC Diamond Belt along with the Muhammad Ali trophy. In this tournament he was dominant and beat the then-favorite George Groves. Since that time, he has kept his sights on capturing the WBC championship and has been patiently waiting for the opportunity to do so for over two years.
Smith has ample experience. After being an International WBC champion, he managed to win the WBC Silver Championship and later conquered the aforementioned tournament.
Canelo Alvarez is definitely the most important boxer of today. He is the world leader in boxing, and he is more anxious than ever to get back into the ring since his last fight was in November of last year, when he knocked out Sergey Kovalev. The terrible pandemic stalled ambitious plans that he had laid out. He could not fight on May 5 or September 16, which had been an important tradition for world boxing.
Canelo is a boxer who has trod the WBC path, managing to conquer the championships that our platform provides for boxers to prepare for the World level and greatness.
Canelo won the WBC Latino, NABF, WBC world Youth Championship and also the Silver Championship of our organization. He was crowned the world super welterweight champion in 2011, managed to conquer the middleweight championship in 2015 by defeating Miguel Cotto, and reconquered the championship by defeating Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in 2018.
The WBC is proud that this fight has the super middleweight championship at stake and at the self-same time, we must recognize Turkish Avni Yildirim for his exemplary cooperation in accepting a step aside agreement to allow and facilitate the fight to take place with the guarantee that the winner will face him within the next 90 days.
The fight will take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, where a capacity of more than 20,000 people is expected, adhering to the strict protocol that is currently required for events with the public in the state of Texas.
The winner will join the honor guard of illustrious WBC super-middleweight champions, including:
Sugar Ray Leonard – USA
Nigel Benn – lUK
Markus Beyer – Germany
Mikkel Kessler – Denmark
Joe Calzaghe – lUK
Carl Froch – UK
Andre Ward – USA
Badou Jack – USA-Sweden
Did you know … The World Boxing Council created the super middleweight division in 1988 and the first fight was historic since, in that fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Donny Lalonde, the super middleweight and light heavyweight world championships were contested. The difference between middleweight (160 pounds) and light heavyweight (175 pounds) was too much, and that is why this intermediate division was created by The WBC, a measure that has proven to be instrumental for the development of boxing as great champions have emerged from this division. Sugar Ray Leonard won the title and successfully defended it against Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran.
Today’s anecdote … Many years ago, Rafael “Cobra“ Mendoza came to visit my father saying that he had the best prospect in Mexican boxing, a young, red-haired, freckled, shy young man named Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. My dad enjoyed watching this young man develop until he was ready for the world championship. Ranked Number 1 by the WBC, Don Jose agreed to sanction the fight against Matthew Hatton for the world super welterweight title that Manny Pacquiao had vacated. Televisa invited my father to a program. It was supposed to be an interview, but it turned out to be a “trial” where they put my father in the dock as the accused. Ignacio Beristain was the prosecutor, while the jury consisted of Juan Manuel Marquez, Ana Maria Torres and the beloved Dr. Alfonso Morales. Oscar de la Hoya was the promoter of Canelo, and Canelo himself participated by videoconference.
While in the car on our way home, my father was furious. “My son, they deceived me in the most painful way. They set a trap to try to show the boy (Canelo) doesn’t deserve the opportunity, they tried humiliate him and used me in an embarrassing way. You will see, time will determine what this young man will achieve in boxing, he is going to be a champion and he will be the best in the world.”
Everyone knows that if Canelo does win as expected, he will not fight Avni Yildirim within 90 days. #BS
Zero chance of that. Yildirim will fight for some bs interim title.
Same with Smith. In all honesty I don’t think Canelo will fight Yildrim period but the WBC will probably create a belt for him at any time.
If Canelo wins, what is the point to fight Yildirim if he can go and fight a more credible opponent, like Plant or Benavidez?
I’ve been disappointed with CSs lack of progress since winning the belt. Inactivity coupled with 2 wins (the latter being a struggle) doesn’t bode well for him but I hope he can pull off the upset.
If Canelo defeats Smith, I wonder what is going to be the negative comments from those that are never satisfied about him. I said that because when Canelo fought Fielding, before and after the fight, there were countless of negative comments and inserted in there was the request why not Cullum Smith instead of the overmatched Fielding. OK, Callum is going to fight Canelo and he still a fresh undefeated young man on his primes, what else could be asked? To face Beterview and then Usyk after?
A fighter should never be blamed or criticized for some managerial decisions that could affect his credibility as a fighter by the opponent selected, not by him, but rather his manager that sometimes acting in an overprotective way, selects unworthy opponents for him.
Agreed Mike: who gives to shits about Yildrim. Wasnt everyone jus talking crap about why Canelo was gonna fight him saying it was a stupid fight jus so Caneko can get an easy win? Now people is getting pissed cuz Canelo MIGHT move past him without fighting him. Some of these folks are jus sick in the head. Who cares who he fights, as long as he fights someone and we can see some boxing!! geeze peeps. No one really knows what he is gonna do. And if u wanna know, jus ask reynoso.. he’ll know
I fully expect Callum Smith to dominate the fight, keeping Alvarez on the end of his jab and busting his face up. Alvarez will then win a unanimous decision despite barely laying a glove on Smith.
I am a Canelo fan but this is not going to be a walk in the park for him and I don’t know why people are disregarding Smith’s chances. If Canelo wins easily then it proves again why he is a pound for pound fighter. Smith has some serious advantages and also some power.
So instead of having Canelo earn the WBC title fairly with a win over Benevidez, they figure another way to backdoor his belt back into Canelo’s hands. Yeah, Benevidez messed up on the scales and with Cocaine but we all know thats his belt. I can imagine fighters will start boycotting the WBC in the next few years. They are getting worst by the day. And watch the WBC protect Canelo from Yildirim.
Canelo WILL WIN…EASILY!!!!!
fight fans are not mad at Canelo they are mad at the fact that Canelo is glorified too much.
A fight is a fight and respect to the pugilist involved but, being honest Canelo was guided and placed in challeges that were low risk high reward…exception GGG and Lara.
Canelo victories are sour to many fans because it feels and seems kkke he gets the nod when his performance is not excellent in a fight compared to his opponent.
I knew Canelo was going to be a protected figgter when he fought Alfonso Gomez, in that fight Gomez basically exposed Canelo and if you guys recall the post fight interview, Gomez clearly knew and said that he understood he was not going to win because of all the BS pokitics and crooked activities that go on in the sport of Boxing, the onky wag to get a win vs Canelo is to get KO on him
Smith is at a disadvantage per time to prepare…now I also feel that if you are a proffesional athlete you should ALWAYS be in shape and ready to go when called upon, only exception is if your injured
Given that I feel Smith is out of shape and thats HIS fault. (Youtube Calkum Smith Beast Mode) nothing Beast in that video – he already looks so exhausred and dehydrated
Bur technically all fighters have a chance. One thing is for sure though Smith will get a pretty payday and you cant blame him for that either
Canelo has learned the business of boxing and now he is hos own boss which equals more money, also he will negotiated to get as many advantages as he can in a fight…like Gomez said he is the A side so…yeah good luck getting a win against him
Everybody saying canelo doesnt deserve to fight for the wbc belt why? When mayweather or pacquiao got shots at wbc belts they didnt deserve you didnt complain you all are just hatersand mad canelo a mexican fighter is the best
Pac was guided in similar fashion low risk high reward…exception Marquez
Pac was different in his persona…the guy was humble there was times when he would not even want to continue hurting his opponents, thats why people loved or respected him, Canelo at times is to arrogant and has an odd aura about him that peolle kust dilike a la Mayweather.
And yes he (Pac) also was in A LOT of BS title fights (catch weight) so believe there are pure boxing fans and there are casual fans…the pure should know that Pacs career when with TR was what Canelo is now.
Floyd the same he knew what opponents to choose and when to choose them…many fighters when they get to an elite level and have a large following turn that success into a lucrative business why risk losing that investment when the casual fans will shell out money to see them perform against low opposition and in turn look awesome and unstoppable and people buy into that hype…I soy Mexicano, Canelo lamentablemente no tiene la sangre liviana como dicen