By Luis Sandoval
Last week BoxingScene reported that Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz said Pacquiao is looking at Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez as a possible opponent next year provided they can come to an agreement on an acceptable catch-weight.
Pacquiao currently resides in the Welterweight division while Canelo campaigns 7 pounds north at Junior Middleweight.
Pacquiao has made a venture into the Junior Middleweight division once before when he fought Antonio Margarito but the fight was contracted at a catch weight of 150 lbs. Manny also used a catch-weight against Miguel Cotto back in 2009 and they plan to strike a similar deal with Alvarez in order to make the fight happen.
BoxingScene spoke to Alvarez exclusively during a private visit to his training camp in San Diego and asked him if he’d be willing to fight at a catch weight in order to make a fight possible with Pacquiao.
“Those days are over. I don’t fight outside my weight class. That’s the first thing I learned in my fight with Floyd [Mayweather]. I don’t fight outside my weight. If they want to fight at 154 then we can move forward and if not, I’ll continue with my career,” Alvarez would tell BoxingScene.
Alvarez agreed to fight Mayweather at a catch-weight of 152 lbs for their mega fight last year in September and while Canelo made the weight without any trouble, he’s not going to agree to fight below 154 ever again; even if it means a fight with Pacquiao is out the window.
While Canelo won’t agree to come down in weight, he does like the idea of fighting Pacquiao. He feels the fight could happen down the line but he only has thing on his mind at the moment.
“I think it’s a fight that could probably happen. They are fighters that are in their moment and if that fight happens, we’re ready. At this point though, it’s just rumors and we’re ready for this fight [with Lara],” said Canelo.
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