By Mauricio Sulaimán
Son of José Sulaimán – WBC President
Saul “Canelo” Álvarez achieved another resplendent glory this past Saturday by dominating and overwhelming British Callum Smith at the Alamodome in San Antonio. A superb promotion with spectacular production, an extravaganza that wraps up a complicated year for the world of sports, because the activity for fans was completely shot down for several months, fans suffered from not being able to watch any sports around the world, eventually some sports began activity without fans, we experienced enhanced production through important innovations and the year is closing with several major events held with fans in the stands under strict safety protocols.
I would like to take this opportunity to recognize, applaud, praise and thank the boxing promoters who have worked so hard under extreme difficulties and uncertainty to keep boxing alive. Behind every promotion there are real heroes in their staff as they have passionately dedicated to attend the many complications that promoting under Covid-19 protocols represent. To be in “The Bubble” is no fun, it is quiet, lonely and challenging with much stress down to the last minute before, during and after each event. Large promotions or small shows, all have been of great importance to keep boxing active providing opportunities to fighters to earn a living and give entertainment to the fans around the world. Same goes to the boxing commissions who have performed and administered these events.
Canelo conquered the vacant super middleweight championship of the World Boxing Council, thus achieving supreme triple WBC champion status, adding this Green and Gold Belt to the super welterweight and middleweight championships he had achieved over the years. Canelo began his career and grew through the WBC platform and its affiliated championships. WBC Youth World champion, NABF and WBC Silver champion served as his preparation to reach with maturity the world stage.
The pandemic prevented Canelo to fight in the traditional 5 de Mayo and September 16 cards, then became a free agent and with end of the year approaching, the fight vs. Callum Smith was announced. Smith undefeated, a talented and experienced fighter, presented a great threat to the pound-for-pound king.
The images from the press conference, the official weigh-in, and before the ringing of the bell were truly dramatic. Callum Smith seemed to be a looming giant when they measured together with an extraordinary advantage of 18 centimeters in height.
The bell rang and lofty Smith dominated the first round with the use of the jab due to a considerable wingspan. Canelo immediately established his fight plan and managed to weave inside Smith’s guard and systematically beat him up with spectacular crunching body shots, uppercuts, various combinations that even led to Smith’s corner to consider for the fight to end after a torrid 10th round. Smith was exceptionally brave and managed to finish the contest on his feet. Canelo was declared the winner by unanimous decision, Canelo sensational, on top of the world!
That same night, WBC world champion Ilunga Makabu defended his cruiserweight championship by knocking out Nigerian Durodola. This card included four African Boxing Union championship fights, making this event a memorable one in the same country and city that experienced the most spectacular promotion in boxing history, since it was in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly known as Zaire), where Don King staged the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle” where Muhammad Ali sensationally knocked out George Foreman to regain his WBC world heavyweight championship in 1974.
Finally, also on the night of the 19th, at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, the interim world bantamweight championship fight took place and the Filipino Reymart Gaballo surprised Emmanuel Rodriguez by winning a split decision.
A very particular fight since originally the world bantamweight champion, Nordine Oubaali, was going to defend against mandatory contender Nonito Donaire. Unfortunately, Oubaali contracted Covid in France and that left him off the card, the WBC agreed to order an interim title for Donaire to fight Rodríguez and just a week before the fight Donaire also tested positive for Covid. Approval was given for the Filipino to enter as a last-minute substitute, and that was how Reymart presented a special present to his idol, Manny Pacquiao, with the WBC world championship on his birthday.
This is how we close fateful 2020, an indescribable year in many ways, but one of learning for all. Reinventing ourselves was the only way to survive, and I am very proud of the work that our WBC has accomplished in all fields of life. Canelo Álvarez pointed out with his great performance what we must all do. Work with passion, maintain discipline and confidence, always go forward and have patience for things to happen.
Did you know that … Very few Mexican fighters have managed to win WBC world championships in three different divisions, and Canelo Alvarez has joined this distinguished list in which we find the following legendary champions:
Julio Cesar Chávez
Erik “El Terrible” Morales
Jorge “Travieso” Arce
Humberto “Zorrita” Soto
Today’s anecdote … Christmas was the most special time for my dad. That was the moment when we could enjoy being united as a family. My parents always made sure that we spent Holy Night together and thus we all waited for the magic of Christmas. All gathered at home and the traditional story that Don José told us year after year, the path of the four wise men on their journey to Bethlehem to find baby Jesus.
There were four of them, but on the way one stayed to help those in need. The fourth Wise Man is Santa Claus. After the delicious dinner that my Mom, Doña Martha, the best mother in the world, offered us, something wonderful happened, something that marked us for life; My father would always leave our house with a large plate of food, drove to our factory to bring dinner to the night watchman, to include him in this magical night. In the spirit of Christmas, no one was ever left out, or ever will be.
The Sulaimán Saldívar family is always of service to others and that is how we learned it, with the caring example of Don José and Doña Martha.
I appreciate your comments at [email protected].
Ha!!!
He deserves all the credit in the world. Went in against an undefeated way bigger guy who was ranked #1 at 168. With crushing shots he put a bigger man on the defense and took the fight out of him. Next up BJS to hopefully set up a super fight with Plant and end the conversation. Benevidez will have to prove to everyone he’s a true professional and can make weight at least 2 fights to prove he can make 168. Charlo, Boo Boo, GGG all need to mix it up to earn that shot. Boo Boo said it, they can’t just wait around they need to fight each other to get that fight. My guess is Charlo is afraid of Boo Boo. Ducked him at 154, and he’s still ducking him. Make GGG vs Andrade, Eddie Hearn it’s getting pathetic you can’t make this happen.
Hopefully next time Canelo can give his opponent more than 2 weeks training before the fights announced while he’s training months behind closed doors.
Oh, so it went from 4 weeks down to 2 weeks huh? Wow. Didnt know that. I was under the impression it was roughly 9 weeks ago that canelos camp met with hearn, Smith and his camp that he was favorited and jus needed to work out the details. They finalized the deal 4 weeks ago. Didnt realize u had a bigger insider than me.. Wow. Stop making excuses already. Geez bro. Get a grip!
didnt Andrade beat the Charlos in the amateurs? maybe thats why they ducking lol but yes i agree GGG needs to fight either Charlo or Andrade and saunders needs to fight plant or Benevidez if he can make weight nobody gets the lotto ticket unless they EARN it
Canelo derangement syndrome is real! I see comments on this thread and you know who you are, that stated how afraid Canelo is after GGG fought that bum. Same people say he’s dodging Charlo whos best opponent is a guy coming off a spirited loss to GGG. You also give him crap for being favored in matches. He’s favored in every fight except maybe Bivol or Beterbiev who fight at 175. If you don’t think your infected, than look who Canelo fought and GGG fought, who’s Beterbiev fighting next, who’s any of these guys fighting next. Then reaccess you’re bs opinions.
Sulliman didn’t mention that Canelo is a proven drug chest. It must have slipped his mind.
lol remnds of when they caught the great Sugar Ray Leonard with steroids and when Saunders was going off about Canelo then gets popped with 5x the amount of roids himself lmao
Don’t act like those old school ladies that get alarmed and make a big deal about kids at the school having sex at very young age. Get real, PED’s is one of the biggest business in the world because there is a high demand by the modern athletes. The trick is not to be discovered. BTW, Jarrell Miller didn’t have a clue about these tricks.
You know how it goes brother. The golden goose gets the best juice, as long as he’s producing. Let him slip a notch or two and you’ll see the “proof” go viral and magically accepted.
If Canelo stays at 168, there are some good fights to make interesting this forgotten division. Its going to be more interesting if Bivol decides to go down to 168, he could become the elephant in the room.
Bivol at 168 or Beterbiev at 175 are the two hardest fights for Canelo, then could be Benavidez. If some how Beterbiev fights Zurdo Ramirez, his reing of terror could end there.
No disrespect to anyone… but Canelo does NOT “need” to fight anyone…. plain and simple.
He has displayed his skills and dominance over fighters from 154 to 175.
The current top tier fighters need him ($$$) not vice versa.
And Callum knew he was a frontrunner on the Canelo sweepstakes months ago, his fault if he indeed didn’t train during that time.
Don’t blame Canelo for being a professional and staying in the gym.
With no disrespect, but one thing is Canelo knowing to whom he is going to fight, or better said to whom he is going to choose and the other the uncertainty to be chosen. Is a lot different approach to train when is just to be in form or when you have a signed contract. Training camp for a very important fight is more than 3 months, not merely one months. There were a lot smokescreen before the announcement, a lot back and forth and even the WBC helped in this saying Canelo should face Yilidirim. What about Canelo training for Smith since October, while Yildirim, BJS and Smith waiting for the call holding their jaw in one hand?
Agree, to a point, by reports coming out of the UK, Callum had been calling for this fight for over a year.
Canelo trained, with no certainty of who or when he would fight.
Due to current global conditions, and contractual obligations, no fight is a certainty.
While I do not categorize Canelo as a G.O.A.T., he has proven worthy of praise through his own merits and professional accolades.
Again, he is the current shot caller, so the other top fighters “need” to earn the fight.
Mikemiguel, agree, big difference. A boxer needs to plan when to build up and peak in his training program for a fight.
Henry: great statement. Agree and see where ur coming from. BUT, to be honest, this type of fight wasnt the average fight. This one involved Status and Millions of dollars. Knowing that he was a top 2 candidate with BJS as the other (and potentially in trouble for the video he released), he shld have known well ahead he was possibly the primary. He is not jus a pro, but a Champion and thus flipped the mental switch to assume its his fight. Worse case scenario, Canelo goes with some 1 else but at least he was prepared as a just in case. Jus my thoughts.
Hi Tony, thanks. Sure, a pro (champ) should be able to switch on, agree. Canelo is of the best, no argument, but Smith really looked like a weak champion ready for the taking. For his own good maybe he could perform at a higher weight, he looked unhealthy and drawn.
100% Agreed Henry. Not sure if the weight got him or Canelos power and Counterpunching neutralized his attack. Either way, Smith was definitelly off his game. And thus whatever situation was going on, itreflected on his performance. I for one, was hoping for a much more competative fight.
Dominant at 154? You referring to the dominant displays against Mayweather and Lara? Or the dismantling of the non description Liam Smith?
Sure at MW he beat GGG, albeit an aging one, and likely with the help of roids.
SMW he beat Fielding, who is one of the most forgettable ‘champs’ ever. Sure he beat Smith, but Smith looked bad in his last fight against domestic level Ryder.
At LHW he beat shopworn and old Kov.
That’s dominance?
Give me a break.
Hagler ruling for near 7 years is dominance, Duran at LW was dominance, Holmes at HW was dominance.
Canelo is a good fighter sure, but he jumps around weight classes generally picking off old and/or sub standard champs, but like Leonard did in the latter part of the 80s.
Smoke and mirrors mate.
Agree re the jumping around in weight picking off easier targets.
The Cynic – Don’t agree though re Leonard in this comparison – At that stage Leonard took on tough fights where he got beat up before winning (Lalonde) and also lost fights.
Yeah, I’m in 2 minds about Leonard, he toyed for years with Hagler, talking of fighting him, then didnt signing to fight him.
However, after a few years and seeing weaknesses in Hagler during the Mugabi fight (Hagler had stopped boxing as much and was happier to trade, and get hit a lot more), Leonard pursued the fight again, Leonard was 30, and Hagler, depending on what you believed, was either 33 or 35 (Hagler was listed at 28 in 1980 when he fought Minter), but around the mid 80s suddenly became 2 years younger.
Hagler wanted Leonard so badly he agreed to all of Leonards demands, including a bigger ring and reducing the fight to 12 rounds from 15.
The fight was close, many thought Hagler won, others had it for Leonard, but the bottom line is it was a very close fight that Leonard won by controversial split decision.
18 months later Leonard picked Lalonde, who was basically a 1 armed fighter due to left shoulder surgery which impaired his ability to jab/use his left, who fought at LHW and was considered the weakest of the champs.
Leonard somehow got him to agree to a fight at SMW, but the fight was for the WBC SMW and LHW titles.
It turned out to be a tough fight as Leonards punch resistance was reduced, but Leonard managed to get the KO with a sustained flurry in the 9th.
Following that fight Leonard agreed to fight Hearns a second time in June 89, Hearns had a terrible 88, getting KO’d in 3 by Barkley, then getting an early Xmas present after clearly losing to James Kinchen for the WBO SMW title, everyone was calling for the shot Hearns to retire, except Leonard who saw this as a opportune time to rematch Hearns (8 years after their first fight).
Despite all that, Hearns decked Leonard twice and did enough to win, however the judges scored it a draw, but even Leonard admitted Hearns deserved the decision.
Next he took on Duran for a 3rd time, Duran looked great beating Barkley, but for this fight looked podgy and just happy to be there and get a big paycheck.
Just over a year later he took on a genuine challenge in Terry Norris and was soundly beaten.
For me, Leonard cherry picked / fought faded /sub par fighters around 87-89.
As soon as he fought someone in their prime he was soundly beat.
I certainly hope you are kidding when saying Sugar Ray Leonard was picking opponents. Marvin Hagler had not lost a fight in many years before losing to Leonard. And you failed to mention that Ray was coming back after 3-4 years due to eye surgery. Marvin was his first fight back. That is insane!!!! Nobody in boxing history ever accomplished such a feat !!!!
Canelo’s current status does not give me any new comments to stay. However, I will say…Happy holidays everyone!
And Mayweather dominated Canelo. Totally outclassed him and almost knocked him out.He even gave Smith tips on how to beat Canelo: Angles! Did Smith listen? Nope. Sorry, I just mention Mayweather for all you haters out there.
Hey, take nothing from Mayweather. He dominated Canelo and he was the fox that outsmarted the hunter in the ring. Mayweather’s style of fighting was very difficult for most fighters to figure out.
Yes, Mayweather beat Canelo. But almost knocked him out..?! Hahaha… You may want to watch that fight again. Canelo was never on the verge of getting knocked out. Your bias is showing… And obviously, his tips for Smith didn’t work.
Son of Two eyes.Wbc loves Canelo cos big sanctioning fees.
If he retyped a phone book would FightNews publish it?