By Miguel Rivera
Former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez believes the credibility of Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (48-1-1, 34KOs) has taken a hit, because of his refusal to defend the middleweight title against Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs).
Earlier this year, the World Boxing Council ordered a mandatory fight between Canelo and Golovkin. At the time, Canelo held the WBC middleweight title. He was allowed to make a voluntary defense against Amir Khan in May - under the agreement that he would defend against Golovkin in the fall.
After baiting Golovkin by accepting his challenge, Canelo vacated the WBC title and moved down to junior middleweight.
In response to Canelo's decision, Golovkin was made the full WBC champion by the sanctioning body.
Canelo then received a lot of negative attention when he announced that he was fighting WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith, who was unbeaten but untested and unknown by most fans. Canelo knocked him out in nine rounds.
The two sides are still taking, about he possibility of Golovkin vs. Canelo for September 2017.
"Canelo Alvarez has done well for himself, and he is undertaking [the task of being a superstar] and he is improving - but gaining credibility is another matter, because he's facing opponents who are not on his level and [his decisions] are not well received by the fans," Marquez told Jaime Estrada.
"The credibility [is an issue for him], because it was paramount for Canelo to defend his title against Golovkin in the middle division, but he didn't do that and now everywhere he goes there is criticism ringing in his ears."
Marquez is looking for a final retirement fight. Maybe Canelo at a catch-weight?
"No, no, no. I have to be realistic. He is too heavy for me. Weight is a very important factor to someone like myself, who barely reaches 145-pounds," Marquez said.
