Joe Calzaghe’s belief that Canelo Alvarez is not an all-time great has gone viral on social media, and now veteran Alvarez critic Paulie Malignaggi is taking it a step further.
On Friday’s episode of ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today,” analyst and former welterweight champion Malignaggi said he would pick 2014 Hall of Famer Calzaghe over Alvarez if they ever met in their primes.
“Canelo’s resume is better than Calzaghe’s. Having said that, I don’t think Calzaghe loses to Canelo,” Malignaggi told host Jimmy Smith. “Stylistically – Calzaghe being a left-handed busy guy who never stops throwing … people call me a Canelo hater … but head to head, Calzaghe wins.
“A [rapid] pace is like Kryptonite versus Canelo. And while criticizing Canelo’s resume is harsh [by Calzaghe], Calzaghe shuts him out almost [if they fought in their primes].”
Malignaggi elaborated, “Canelo has shown an inability to adjust when he’s getting beat.”
Calzaghe, from Wales, was recently inducted in the British Boxing Hall of Fame, where he was named the greatest British boxer in history following his legendary wins over Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins and an aged Roy Jones Jnr.
Appearing in a video interview with BoxingScene this week, Calzaghe generated an abundance of heated reaction by declaring Alvarez falls short of all-time great status, mentioning his losses and what he perceived as favorable judging in his first fight against Gennadiy Golovkin in 2017, a draw.
Malignaggi admits Calzaghe lacked four-division champion Alvarez’s resume depth, which includes going 2-0-1 versus Golovkin, defeating Erislandy Lara, Sergey Kovalev and Miguel Cotto and fighting Floyd Mayweather Jnr, Dmitry Bivol and Terence Crawford.
“Hopkins and Jones were past their prime – Roy was just a name,” Malignaggi agreed. “Canelo lost his biggest fights but had a great career.”
The 35-year-old Mexico product is currently sidelined by surgery after his September 13 unanimous-decision loss to new undisputed super-middleweight champion Terence Crawford.
Malignaggi was part of the chorus clapping at Alvarez previously for not fighting then-mandatory and current WBC light-heavyweight champion David Benavidez in favor of Jaime Munguia, Edgar Berlanga and John Ryder.
Beyond that, Malignaggi never pauses to remind of Alvarez’s positive 2018 test for the banned PED clenbuterol, which the boxer claimed was accidentally ingested from contaminated Mexican beef.
The controversy will go forgotten come Hall of Fame time, Malignaggi suggested, calling voters “spineless and degenerate.”
