In this era of apps and online purchases, nobody wants to wait in line anymore. The boxing world is no different.
When anyone even resembling a cash cow comes around, the top fighters in his weight range tend to pull back on the level of their own opposition, stay as safe as possible, and insist on getting their money fight now. If they don’t get what they want, the cash cow is ducking them, scared, running from the best, valuing business over sport, etc.
Right now, we’re seeing this dynamic play out with most of the top dogs between 160 and 175 lbs, all waiting on a payday for fighting Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
The 31-year-old cash cow from Guadalajara recently signed a two-fight deal with streaming service DAZN to face WBA light heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol in May and, should he emerge victorious, archrival Gennadiy Golovkin (for a part 3 in their rivalry) in September. Alvarez took the DAZN deal after considering a two-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions which would’ve seen him face Jermall Charlo and David Benavidez instead.
Of course, when Alvarez signed on to fight Bivol and Golovkin, a good chunk of boxing fandom went ape shit (just like another good chunk would’ve gone ape shit if he had signed on to fight Charlo and Benavidez).
Canelo’s ducking…He only wants the easy fights…He’s all about business…Blah, blah, blah….
I get where the fighters are coming from. These guys want their monster payday now…and who can blame them? Who wouldn’t want four or five times their normal pay for something that could, conceivably, lead to ten or twelve times their normal pay? Facing Canelo is a boxing sweepstakes in and of itself. BEATING Canelo is a ticket to possibly BECOMING the new Canelo.
And when they don’t get that instant ticket to the Canelo sweepstakes? Rather than work on finding that next biggest payday out there and building themselves to a point where their star rises nearer to Alvarez’s, they just kind of whine about not getting what they wanted.
“At the end of the day, we all knew Canelo wouldn’t want to fight me,” the 25-year-old Benavidez recently told BoxingScene.com. “He’s fought his tough fights, he’s a businessman. For him, it’s not fighting the best; it’s business.”
I mean, yeah…and no. Everyone in boxing is a businessman to a degree, especially in this modern era where fighters have more control over their careers and anyone who can draw serious money gets absolute say-so over who they face.
Every fighter’s team, if they’re worth having as a team, is running risk vs. reward assessments all the time. What will you get for the risk involved? It’s the reason Benavidez’s team isn’t calling out David Morrell and why Team Benavidez and Team Demetrius Andrade will likely shy away from one another despite rumors of an interest in facing each other.
Canelo, like everyone else making a living in the sport, has a plan for his career. And that plan has been significantly more daring than most, including those claiming to be ducked by him. His current plan puts him on course to become the first fighter to hold all four belts in two divisions, simultaneously, plus the chance to brutally settle an old rivalry.
He’s set to face a universally recognized top 2 light heavyweight champion and the universally recognized top middleweight, who’s had two past nip-and-tuck battles with him. That’s hardly a path of least resistance when stacked against Charlo and Benavidez, who are also legitimate challenges in their own right.
Alvarez’s previous plan at 168 was hardly a disgraceful run of cowardice, either. In the span of eleven months, he beat three of the four top-rated super middleweights in the world, plus a WBC top-ranked filler. He not only beat them, he crushed them.
Who does that in this day and age? Who’s done that?
I’ll wait for the answer that never comes.
Since when did the man on top have to reach out to his challengers and facilitate and accommodate their rise to the very top? Probably since the Mayweather era when media and some fans burned red-hot to see Mayweather beat, but settled for merely diminishing his accomplishments when they couldn’t see him take an official “L.”
“I’m busy this year,” Canelo told DAZN, when asked about all those calling him out. “I know they want that payday, but I really don’t understand why they don’t fight each other. Fight each other and then I’ll fight the winner of all of them.”
He’s right.
Boxing suffers with all of these guys just waiting around on a payday, griping to the press. In the 168 lb. weight range, there’s David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, Caleb Plant, John Ryder, Daniel Jacobs, Callum Smith, and David Morrell among others. There are a number of compelling battles to be made from mixing and matching. Yet, with the exception of Ryder-Jacobs and Ryder-Smith, none of the possible matchups have been made and none are currently in serious discussions.
If you’re a fan demanding that Canelo Alvarez fight the top challenges to establish his legacy, then why isn’t the same expected of those ranked below him? If you’re a fighter blasting Canelo Alvarez for ignoring your challenge because “for him, it’s business,” then why do you play the business game too?
If we’re being real here, Alvarez has fought (and beat) more legit high-end talent than any one of the names mentioned above. Cut the guy some slack and start heaping some scrutiny on the guys who are fighting nobodies and no-hopers, waiting for a Canelo fight to fall into their laps.