by Keith Idec

Ronnie Shields would “love” for Canelo Alvarez to fight Jermall Charlo.

Unfortunately, though, Shields anticipates Alvarez avoiding the 154-pound champion he trains, much the way Shields suspects Alvarez will continue staying away from Gennady Golovkin.

“I don’t think he’ll fight Jermall, either,” Shields told BoxingScene.com. “We want that fight. That’d be a fight that we’d be more than happy to take. We would be more than happy to fight Canelo. That’d be perfect for us.

“It’s about people fighting the best. [Alvarez] doesn’t want to move up, but he says he’s not a 54-pounder. So what is he? If he’s not a 54-pound and he’s not a 60-pounder, what is he? If he’s a 55-pounder, we’ll fight him at 55. We’ll fight him at Caneloweight.”

The undefeated Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) recorded an impressive unanimous-decision victory over former champion Austin Trout (30-3, 17 KOs) in their 12-round fight for Charlo’s IBF junior middleweight championship Saturday night in Las Vegas. While Charlo and Shields are eager to challenge Alvarez later this year, Charlo has a mandatory defense due against Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC).

Shields also realizes that Alvarez-Golovkin is a much bigger fight than Alvarez-Charlo. Based on Alvarez’s actions since publicly proclaiming 2½ weeks ago that he’ll fight Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) in his next bout, the veteran trainer from Houston just doesn’t envision Alvarez-Golovkin materializing.

“The middleweight title is one of the most coveted titles in the sport of boxing,” Shields said, referring to Alvarez vacating the WBC middleweight title last week. “It’s been that way forever. And you give it up? What does that say about what kind of man you are? It really surprised me that he’s running from a guy like Triple-G. I really and truly don’t understand it. I thought Canelo was bigger than that.

“But again, maybe it’s not Canelo. Maybe it’s everyone else around him, who’s telling him what he needs to do, telling him what’s best for him, which is not what’s best for him. This is a black eye for Mexico. … You think Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. would do something like this? Absolutely not. [Juan Manuel] Marquez or anybody like that? You think they’re gonna run from somebody like this. Absolutely not. He’s in a different generation. It’s a shame that it’s come to this. Again, I don’t know if it’s him. Maybe it’s people around him, putting it in his head. And I think it’s a shame.”

Shields also didn’t respect Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) defending the WBC middleweight championship at a catch weight, rather than the 160-pound middleweight limit. The Mexican superstar’s last two bouts, each for the WBC middleweight championship, were contested at a catch weight of 155 pounds.

“He’s afraid to fight at 160,” Shields said. “Why? Against Amir Khan, I bet he was 180 pounds. And you’re scared to fight at 160 pounds? Come on, man. There’s something more to it than that. They keep on saying they have to build the [Alvarez-Golovkin] fight. There’s nothing more to build. Both guys are at their best right now, so why not?

“It’s about pitting your skills against the next man’s skills. See who’s the best – that’s all. That’s what this sport is all about, the best fighting the best. Nothing more, nothing less than that. And if you don’t wanna be one of the best fighters, then you know what? Keep fighting guys two divisions smaller than you and people will judge you from that.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.