Everything you need to know about Canelo Alvarez’s fight this past weekend rests in the fact that the fight itself was basically last on the list of things people were talking about afterward. Those conditions have not changed, either. And we are no better than the masses, apparently.
Let’s take them one at the time, then eventually talk about the fight against Avni Yildirim.
What If Floyd Mayweather And Canelo Alvarez Fought Today?
Back in 2013, when Mayweather was best in the world — the way Alvarez is now — he fought a very green 23-year-old Alvarez at 152 pounds, a weight Alvarez hadn’t hit in years. This is the reminder, for the discussion that followed on Twitter about what would happen if they met these days.
There’s a rather elegant solution to age-old philosophical dilemma, often adapted into a sports cliche: What happens when an irresistible force meets an unmovable object? The answer is, they cannot meet. If one exists, the other cannot.
One can easily sidestep the “what if” of Mayweather-Canelo II by pointing out that it’s impossible. Mayweather has never weighed in higher than 151 pounds. Canelo fights at super middleweight (168 lbs.) and light heavyweight (175 lbs.) these days. Even if they could find a middle point — Canelo physically couldn’t, Mayweather would steadfastly refuse — Mayweather isn’t interested in being a real boxer. His last “fight,” in 2018, was against a Japanese kickboxer; the one before that was against a declining UFC mixed martial artist; and his next might be against a YouTuber. And on top of all that, Mayweather, as good and accomplished as he was, wasn’t interested after about 2002 in fighting on a level playing field.
It wouldn’t happen. Don’t waste your time discus… ah, the revelation of self-hypocrisy just arrived in another wave.
If this fight happened now, who’d win? @Canelo vs @FloydMayweather pic.twitter.com/4gGAhH2k1Q
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) February 28, 2021
Canelo Sure Kicked Those Jake Paul Guys Out Of The Ring, Didn’t He, Yuk Yuk
You didn’t think it could get more disconnected from the fight itself, did you? This is now the section of a boxing blog entry about Canelo telling some grown man dudes wearing shirts emblazoned with the face of Jake Paul, an aforementioned YouTuber now working a boxer gimmick, to get the fuck out of the ring. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this, other than Canelo’s hilarious contempt, is the fact that Paul has a fan who isn’t a child.
Canelo kicking these bums off stage. The disrespect man #CaneloYildirim pic.twitter.com/VkttjEuD0v
— Mata (@mxtamxta) February 28, 2021
Canelo’s Next Fight Matters, At Least
Say, why was Canelo fighting Yildirim, anyway, a fight so meaningless that the most talked-about thing involving the fight this weekend was NOT the fight? Was it because alphabet sanctioning belts are great for the sport? Nah, it is instead because the alphabet sanctioning belt gang adheres to something more like a seemingly nonsensical David Lynchian nightmare vision for its logic than, ya know, who deserves to fight whom. Yildirim got a mandatory title shot because he… lost his last fight to Anthony Dirrell? Cool, cool.
Billy Joe Saunders — say, that fight makes some sense, doesn’t it? We could’ve had that this weekend, maybe. Instead we got this.
Now, the #6-ranked (by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board) super middleweight Saunders doesn’t have much of a chance to win, either. He’s really just not that good, overall, and ranks where he does because the rest of the division is no great shakes. And Canelo is pretty much at his career peak. But at least Saunders belongs in the ring with Canelo, by some version of who deserves to fight whom. May it is for Canelo-Saunders, with a subplot that both these guys have been popped in performance-enhancing drug tests, giving a sort of unofficial glimpse of the utopia sought by those who think PEDs should be allowed.
Oh Yeah, Alvarez Versus Yildirim
These punch stats look incorrect. Yildirim landed zero punches. Canelo got a 3rd round technical knockout. If you’ve seen this cat video, you saw Canelo versus Yildirim.
(Canelo Alvarez photo via)
