HIS defeat to Floyd Mayweather still gnaws at Canelo Alvarez. They fought a long time ago. In 2013 Canelo was a young man, who had to boil his broad frame down to 152lbs. He is a different animal now, a seasoned veteran who has subsequently beaten Miguel Cotto and done 24 rounds with Gennady Golovkin.
He’d like the fight. But Alvarez couldn’t take it below the middleweight limit. Mayweather is technically retired and rarely fights over welterweight, even if he did make an exception for that straightforward bout with Conor McGregor.
“I can’t go down further than 160 pounds. If that fight were to take place, it would have to be at 160 pounds,” Alvarez said.
But he insisted, “I’m a more complete fighter now. I would be much more competitive. I have a lot more experience. I have improved a lot, so it would be different.”
“It was experience that defeated me that night and that’s why it was a boring fight, as well, because he didn’t do too much to me, either. It was experience and I’m a much more mature fighter. I’m a better fighter than the fighter that fought that night,” he continued. “It would be very different. After Mayweather, we’ve faced very good fighters. We fought Miguel Cotto, GGG twice. It will be different, and I’m a more complete fighter now with more experience. If this fight were to happen again, we would defeat him, no problem.”
Eric Gomez, of Golden Boy promotions, concurred. “Oh, definitely. Floyd doesn’t want any of Canelo now. Floyd took the fight at the right time. He was fighting a fighter that, you know, was very young, 21 at the time. He didn’t have the experience. Floyd beat him with experience, that’s all he did, but now, it would be a different story,” Gomez said.
“Floyd, he doesn’t want to face Canelo.”
