This is Rummy’s Corner.
What is the path to greatness for Canelo Alvarez?
Determining greatness is a tricky subject when it comes to evaluating active boxers.
But even still, Canelo has already carved out quite the quality legacy for himself.
Canelo has already accomplished a great deal in professional boxing during his journey
towards a chance at boxing greatness.
Canelo won his first major world championship on March 5, 2011 when he defeated Matthew
Hatton by 12 round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC junior middleweight title.
Canelo was just 20 years old.
That was a long time ago, and the boxing landscape looked completely different than it does today,
with Sergio Martinez being the top dog at middleweight, at super middleweight Andre
Ward was in the midst of his sensational run in the Super Six Boxing Classic, Bernard Hopkins
was preparing to make boxing history in his rematch against Jean Pascal at 175, and Wladimir
Klitschko was the reigning unified heavyweight world champion.
Since that time, Canelo has won a major world championship at middleweight, he then won
another title at junior middleweight, next he won a unified championship at middleweight,
he snagged a major world title at light heavyweight, and then he became a unified champion at super
middleweight.
In his most recent bout that was televised on the still relatively new streaming app
service known as DAZN, last Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Canelo
Alvarez defeated Billy Joe Saunders to expand his claim on the unified super middleweight
world championship when he added the WBO to his existing collection that already included
the WBA and WBC.
So what is the path to greatness for Canelo Alvarez?
The short answer is he already IS great.
Canelo has already been and still is on the proper path to that end.
Not only has Canelo won major championships across 4 divisions, including unified championships
in 2 of those 4, but he has also been a highly regarded P4P talent for more than 8 years,
where today, many observers view him as the absolute greatest boxer in the world.
In other words, if Canelo retired tomorrow and never boxed again, he would have already
made a tremendous impact in the world of boxing.
That is not to say that he is necessarily in the same league as guys like Manny Pacquiao
or Floyd Mayweather Jr, the latter of whom, of course, soundly defeated Canelo way back
in 2013.
But that was then, and this is now.
In boxing it isn’t always about suffering a loss, it’s often more about how you bounce
back from a loss - and in that sense, Canelo has bounced back wonderfully and achieved
a great deal.
In fact Canelo bounced back as well as anyone at that time could have possibly imagined.
Canelo holds a number of notable wins in his career against guys like Erislandy Lara, Miguel
Cotto, Daniel Jacobs, Sergey Kovalev, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, and of course,
he holds a victory against Gennady Golovkin.
And with Triple G, he also had a draw against him, and both of those victories left many
observers believing Golovkin deserved the victory in both.
So in that sense, Canelo is lacking a signature victory.
But that in itself shouldn’t be something that hampers his standing.
It reminds a bit of the situation with long reigning heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko,
who despite also lacking a signature victory, his long reign of dominance acts as a counterbalance.
Wladimir was undoubtedly an All Time Great heavyweight.
Canelo himself is in the midst of a long and dominant reign, but Canelo also has a very
solid body of work with some very good names on his ledger.
Canelo is only 30 years old, he’ll turn 31 in July.
So he still has time to find that super fight that might provide him a chance to earn that
signature victory.
But until then, if and when such a challenge arises, Canelo can continue on a path that
can potentially enhance his legacy, and it starts with competing for the undisputed super
middleweight crown.
Right now Canelo holds 3 out of 4 major titles at 168 - the only thing standing in Canelo’s
way from undisputed supremacy is IBF champion Caleb Plant.
If this showdown for super middleweight supremacy comes to fruition between Canelo and Plant
- with no shenanigans from the alphabet governing bodies - this in itself would represent a
huge opportunity for Canelo.
If Alvarez becomes undisputed at 168, he will have done something few boxers ever achieve
in the modern age - holding all 4 belts at the same time.
Becoming undisputed is a bit of a novelty in the sense that BS boxing politics from
sanctioning bodies normally discourage this type of thing.
Even guys like Mayweather and Pacquiao - with all of the titles they won across so many
different weight classes - neither one of them was ever undisputed in any of those divisions.
So if Canelo can become undisputed at 168, I think this definitely improves his standing
and adds to his considerable achievements in boxing.
Then you have 175 - a division where Canelo already won a major world title.
Assuming he is able to clean out 168 with undisputed distinction, if he could then ascend
back up to 175 and unify there, or repeat the feat and become undisputed, that would
be very significant - especially when combined with all of the other achievements Canelo
has obtained in his career.
He amazingly still seems to be improving his craft and is arguably right in the midst of
his fighting prime right now.
The future is potentially wide open, and even if Canelo never finds a worthy dance partner
to provide him the big chance for a career-defining signature victory - if he can continue facing
and beating high quality competition over the next 4 or 5 years - then it may not be
long before Canelo starts becoming a bigger part of the discussion among the All Time
Greats in the rich history of professional boxing.
Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
This is Rummy’s Corner.