Another Canelo Alvarez fight and another opponent unwilling to engage him led to an underwhelming night in which the boxing superstar won, but the fans lost.
Again.
This alarming trend has to stop, and hopefully, Terence Crawford will force Canelo to fight because the fans deserve better.
Sadly, Canelo has brought this on himself.
Canelo’s unanimous decision victory (119-109, 116-112 and 115-113) over William Scull on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the latest in his recent run of fights lacking drama or excitement. In the fight against Scull, Canelo threw a total of 152 punches. That number is the second-fewest punches thrown in a 12-round fight in CompuBox’s 40-year history. That is abysmal, even by Canelo’s low output standards. However, he was in the ring with a fighter who had no interest in winning and just wanted to survive, as Scull pranced around the ring and landed 55 of 293 punches thrown. Nothing he landed was of consequence, and Canelo wasn’t remotely threatened by the previously unbeaten Scull.
The reality is that Canelo deserved this.
Since he lost to Dmitry Bivol in May 2022, Canelo has spent the last three years loading up his bank account while fighting lesser opposition and leaving fans yearning for more. He received a pass for fighting an aging Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin two years too late, and following it with a homecoming bout against John Ryder. After that, however, the expectation was that he would face a more than deserving David Benavidez, the WBC mandatory challenger. Instead, Canelo opted for fights with an undersized and overmatched Jermell Charlo, and undeserving opponents Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga. There will be those who say that Canelo had to fight Scull to become undisputed again and blame the IBF for installing an unproven fighter as the mandatory opponent, but that is only half true. The reality is that Canelo can do whatever he wants, and the only true mandatory opponent (dictated by the fans, of course) has been Benavidez. For whatever reason, Canelo didn’t want that fight. And here we are.
Honestly, a fight with Jake Paul would have been better than what we saw with Scull. Sure, Paul is also undeserving, but would anybody doubt that he would at least try to win? After all, Canelo was this close to fighting Paul before Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, swooped in with an offer Canelo couldn’t refuse.
This trend wouldn’t have been so bad if Canelo delivered exciting fights. Instead, his recent outings have felt too safe, opting for financial security over taking risks and dispatching of his opponents inside the distance. He’s been far too conservative. And even when he has had his opponents on the proverbial ropes, he seemingly allowed them to make it to the final bell. His recent opponents have taken solace in surviving rather than trying to win. And Canelo has been kind enough to let them off the hook with a few extra zeros in their bank account.
He won’t have that luxury against Crawford when they meet on Sept. 12 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Obviously, Canelo will have a significant size advantage as Crawford, an undisputed champion at junior welterweight and welterweight, will climb two more weight classes to challenge him. But Crawford is one of the best fighters of this generation and possesses a mean streak that won’t allow Canelo to cruise to another decision. Instead, at some point, Canelo will have to bite down on his gumshield and fight Crawford. That’s something we haven’t seen Canelo do since the Bivol fight. He has spent the last three years in glorified sparring sessions without a sense of danger.
At this stage of his career, Canelo needs the kind of challenge that Crawford represents. He spent the first two-thirds of his career loading up his résumé with quality names, but the last third has seen him evade difficult challenges while depositing large checks. And before you say he’s earned the right to do that, fans and critics have also earned the right to call him out for it.
While that may be great for Canelo, that’s not what fans deserve. The so-called “Face of Boxing” should push the sport further into the mainstream. These fights are doing the exact opposite.
Canelo’s latest deal with Riyadh Season will see the checks continue to roll in, but fans deserve to see one of the greatest boxers of this era in a challenging fight.
And a fight with Crawford should be it.