De La Hoya: No Apology From Me, This is Best 154 Fight For Canelo

By Edward Chaykovsky

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya is gearing up for his next company pay-per-view this coming Saturday night.

Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs) will challenge WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13KOs) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The fight will be Canelo's first at 154-pounds since 2013. Canelo's last five fights took place at a catch-weight of 155-pounds, one pound north of the junior middleweight limit.

Not everyone is happy with Saturday's fight. Smith is unknown in the Unites States and has yet to reach a star level even in the UK. He hasn't faced top opponents and Canelo is by far his most biggest and most accomplished opponent.

Among the current junior middleweight champions, Smith is viewed by most pundits as the easiest road to take.

De La Hoya disagrees. He says Smith vs. Canelo is the best fight possible to make at that weight.

“There are no apologies I have to make,” De La Hoya said to the LA Times. “This is the best fight possible at 154 because that’s what Canelo’s body is asking him to fight at.”

Golden Boy matchmaker Robert Diaz told the paper that Smith is another opponent who will prepare Canelo for a future fight with IBF/IBO/WBC/WBA middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin. Canelo and Golovkin have a verbal deal in place to fight each other in September of 2017.

Canelo's last fight took place in May, when he picked up a brutal sixth round knockout of Amir Khan, who moved up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds.

“Khan had speed. Smith is going to come and ask, ‘Can you take my power? Let’s go. Will for will,’” Diaz said. “We know Golovkin will box and be aggressive, so every one of these fights helps, because Golovkin is not one-dimensional.”