By Hesiquio Balderas
Eddy Reynoso, trainer of Saul “Canelo” Álvarez, has a new challenge at task and that is to prepare his young superstar to fight for the first time at the weight limit of 175 pounds and to assure Canelo a place in the Boxing Hall of Fame if he is victorious on Saturday against WBO light heavyweight world champion Sergey Kovalev.
“We as a team are always watching the weight classes around us and we thought that this was a fight that will make sense,” said 3-time trainer of the year nominee Reynoso. “We want to make history, Kovalev has already made a name for himself in boxing, he has a legacy, he has faced great fighters in his division. We know that we have a great chance of beating a great champion like Kovalev, so we decided to make the fight happen.
“We didn’t want to take a tune-up fight at 175 because Saul has a lot of experience inside the boxing ring. He is in a position to fight anyone and this is the fight we wanted. All we have to do is watch the fighters around us from 160 to 175 and we’ll see what happens,” mentioned Eddy.
“We still have a long way to go. Saul is a young experienced fighter, but like I said he has a long way to go. We are looking to defend the titles, but first things first. We have to defeat Kovalev who is not easy. He is a world champion and we have mutual respect for each other. Hopefully, we can win on November 2 and we’ll see what’s next for May 2020,” concluded Reynoso.
Let’s fight a guy who is on his way out, has been hurt by body shots in a few of his last fights and who just fought about a month and a half ago!! We won’t give him any time to recover from the previous training camp and fight either!! Sounds like strategy if you ask me. Just another way for Canela to get another name on his resume and a title in another weight class. I hope I’m wrong and Kovalev KO’s Canela but GGG couldn’t even hurt him so I don’t think Kovalev will KO him. Points win for Canela.
I too hope the Krusher is unleashed!
As soon as I heard this fight was made, I knew they’d be a predetermined outcome.
Kovalev is coming off a 12 round war ONLY to fight again only 2 months later with very little time to recover?
Doesn’t make sense for a older, diminished Kovalev, makes all the sense in the world for Canelo and his team who’ve made a career out of requesting and receiving advantageous demands from fighters.
Right…. Where you saying the same when Mayweather was fighting Mosley Judah Gatti Delahoya? Probably not
I think if Kovalev was younger and in his prime giving rise to the name “the Krusher”, Alvarez would get seriously hurt with those right crosses. However, seems like the mileage on that body now is a cash cow for Oscar and Alvarez. Cherry-pickin’ at its finest!
Agree with 90% of what you are saying but Kovalev hits harder than GGG who at 37 was no more the fighter he was 3 years ago.. Gennady won the first fight and draws or lost the second in my opinion but he would’ve Knock Canelo out 3 years ago and that’s why Oscar and him took the fight. And this fight is exactly the same with the fact Kovalev is no more the hungry destroyer he was a few years ago… but he is a puncher and that’s his only chance..
Right now, old Kovalev will be a safe choice. But Beterbiev (and even Bivol)is an other kind of “animal”, so he will probably be avoided for some years.
Insure Hall of Fame?
Canelo hasn’t fought ANY CHAMPION is his PRIME!
He’s (or his management team/promoter) spent his career avoiding prime, top fighters!
He’s beaten the “worse, weak champions available” and been given “gift” decisions on at lease three close fights!
He has the potential to be a hall of fame great champion if matched up against the best available fighter in his prime, win or lose, his legacy will be built! BUT his team prefer da money, marketing and flash instead of glory.
Canelo hasnt fought fighters in their prime?? Seriously?? What about Kirkland, Trout, golovkin ( twice..lost one, won one), Jacobs, fielding, Smith, Lara( cld have gone either way, i had Lara though) and Cintron. Alot of These guys were even undefeated at that. Give the dude SOME credit. Only reason everyone wants to fight him now is a payday. Thats about it.
based on their logic if Canelo beat them they were past their prime….
Diego: yea, i feel ya…these guys look for any reason to bust Canelos balls. The fact of the matter is, hes prob beat their favorite fighter and now they dislike him. Owell,
Canelo and his corrupt team have “beaten” boxing, the sport many of us posting here love.
So you’re saying none of the criticism directed at Canelo is true?
You must live in another world.
Yes, seriously Tony.
GGG beat him convincingly in their first fight and likely the second fight according to the majority of boxing analysts.
He lost against Lara but was given a gift split decision win.
Heck, even the loss to Mayweather, where he was thoroughly dominated, was shamefully declared a “majority” decision for Mayweather!
Kirkland was knocked out against the light hitting Ishido, which prompted GB to seek out a fight with him.
Trout, Fielding, Smith, Khan were all undersized and weak punchers, the” best of the worst”!
Cotto and Cintron are pretty much self explanatory.
He will NEVER fight a STRONG, young champion is his prime! He’ll spent the rest of career earning millions and fighting weak opposition.
Bro. C’mon now. U really think that GGG won that second fight? These “boxing analysts” must be as corupt as the judges that ODLH “apparently pays off”. Yes i give ya the first one. GGG won that one. For sure. Canelo put it to GGG the second one. Dude he was gased at the 4th. Cant pump a half descent jab and still think u can win against someone landing power and combos. As far as Trout, Fielding, Smith, Khan where all “undersized and weak punchers” yet they were champions? So ur saying those divisions are full of crappy fighters if thise guys were champs? Bro a champ is a champ. Regsrdless of hard hitting or not. Who in their prime is strong and young right now that is Canelos weight?
We all know Canelo fights are fixed thanks to Oscar and company along with the judges and the referee. Scenario 1 Kovalev wins but the judges give it to Canelo for a controversial win. Scenario 2 Canelo stuns Kovalev and the referee stops the fight controversially.
If Canelos fights were fixed, he would be undefeated. So is he undefeated? Dont get me wrong, there has been some question in 2 of his fights. 1st fight i had GGG winning, it was given the draw. Second fight scores were closer than the fight really was. Lara, well that was a close one, cld have gone either way. Basically, judging has good days and bad days. Its not jus with Canelos fights. Look at the recent GGG or charlo fights
The corruption is in being COMPLETELY DOMINATED by Mayweather yet somehow loosing a CLOSE “MAJORITY” decision and in being COMPLETELY DOMINATED by GGG and receiving a split draw!
Judging has good days and bad days but ain’t it funny how Canelo ALWAYS receives the benefit of the doubt!
Cldnt we say the same about Jermall vs Korobov or even GGG’s last fight where he got his ass handed to him. Lemme guess. GGG n Charlo paid those judges too? Cuz those fights were robbed big time.
This match reminds me of Roy Jones choosing John Ruiz to pick up another belt. I can’t blame Jones for picking up easy money, but these type of matches do nothing to enhance a resume. It is obvious that Kovalev’s best days are in his rear view mirror.