Canelo Alvarez's Big Flaw Against Sound Boxers

This whole Canelo struggles against a certain style is a myth. He struggles against all fights B+ and above. He fought close with Jacobs, Lara, Trout, and Kovalev all of the drastically different styles. He lost to Mayweather, GGG X2, and Bivol, against drastically different styles. The only thing they really have in common is a great jab. You use the jab and Canelo's head movement is neutralized. I saw a clear win about Jacobs but being competitive against top competition isn't a knock. Golovkin is always in competitive fights when he fights top guys. But this thread isn't about that. It's about WHY he struggles with fighters who manage distance well and why his style of loading up on power shots never works against certain fighters.

So we all know Canelo is a great fighter and he's no-brainier first ballot HOFer and one of the best in his era. Hell of a fighter yada yada.... BUT, he has a big flaw when matched up against boxers that know how to control distance. He loads up on his shots and isn't creative enough with his offense to close the distance. We saw it against Floyd, Lara and now against Bivol. If you load up against those types of fighters, they will just be able to see your shots coming from a mile away. So to mitigate that, he would have to up his pace and be willing to increase his volume. He does not do that and then he ends up getting frustrated so he goes straight to the ropes in hope of the opponent falling for his bait so he can find an opening that way. Canelo did this against Floyd and did it again against Bivol last night. There was no reason for him to go to the ropes but he was so frustrated that he couldn't break Bivol's distance that he thought he may be able to land a big counter to change the fight. Like Floyd, Bivol was way too smart for that and did not give him any openings. When Canelo loads up on shots and he misses, he always starts to tire and yesterday was no different. You could tell by the 4th or 5th round that he was winded and it was going to be a long night for him. The question is, since he won't be able to win a distance fight against Bivol, can he make the adjustment to be more active and be willing to take more shots to get on the inside and break Bivol down that way? Because on the outside he just has no chance and will get picked apart and lose another decision. I'm not sure if he has the ability to change things in the rematch. Thoughts? This whole Canelo struggles against a certain style is a myth. He struggles against all fights B+ and above. He fought close with Jacobs, Lara, Trout, and Kovalev all of the drastically different styles. He lost to Mayweather, GGG X2, and Bivol, against drastically different styles. The only thing they really have in common is a great jab. You use the jab and Canelo's head movement is neutralized.

Yeah, but I don't even think that's the main thing here. It's his inability to be willing to work his way to the inside and increase his volume against these fighters who have mastered distance control. Canelo just ends up showing very little variety to his offense when he fights these types of fighters. You can't rely on putting everything on every single shot in hopes of landing a big one. I think the extra weight is bad for his cardio too. I thought he looked sluggish vs Kovalev too.

He gonna have to be more of a boxer. Throw some pitty pat jabs in there, and mix it with heat in there when possible. Up his activity rate, so he can cause more openings for the big stuff. Ironically a lot like Bivol was fighting. Either that, or totally sell on a body attack in the hopes that it slows Bivol down. IDK if you can teach an old dog new tricks at this point with only 4 months or so until the rematch. What he'd been doing had been working for him up until this point. He's still very on his feet too, so I'm not sure if more of a "boxing" kind of style would work against an opponent whose lighter on his feet and already used to fighting in that way. Thank you! This is what I was getting at. All his shots were being thrown with power but he did not need to do that. Can he increase his volume though? Can he take power off his shots to work his way inside and then launch big body shots? All this talk of him being a much improved fighter since Floyd, he still mainly has the same flaws. Against someone like Bivol, you would need to have a style similar to someone like Spence where he will use his jab to get on the inside and then throw with volume until he breaks you down. Not sure if Canelo's style of staying on the outside and trying to land big counters is going to work...Matter of fact, I know it will not work. So it may be more beneficial for Canelo to fight Golovkin in September and Bivol some time in 2023 after he gets more time to tweak his style a bit.

He can’t box off the back foot, if you force him backwards, he’s not very effective. Yeah, but I don't even think that's the main thing here. It's his inability to be willing to work his way to the inside and increase his volume against these fighters who have mastered distance control. Canelo just ends up showing very little variety to his offense when he fights these types of fighters. You can't rely on putting everything on every single shot in hopes of landing a big one.

He gonna have to be more of a boxer. Throw some pitty pat jabs in there, and mix it with heat in there when possible. Up his activity rate, so he can cause more openings for the big stuff. Ironically a lot like Bivol was fighting. Either that, or totally sell on a body attack in the hopes that it slows Bivol down. IDK if you can teach an old dog new tricks at this point with only 4 months or so until the rematch. What he'd been doing had been working for him up until this point. He's still very on his feet too, so I'm not sure if more of a "boxing" kind of style would work against an opponent whose lighter on his feet and already used to fighting in that way.

yeah Alvarez challenged himself by choosing the hardest stylistic match Yep, much respect for him to do so. It was hilarious seeing people talk down on this fight as if he was going to just be able to walk through a bigger, skilled LHW.

He can’t box off the back foot, if you force him backwards, he’s not very effective.

Everyone has problems with guy with pedigree who doesn’t take risks. At this point, the “boxing” style is just synonymous with “won’t take risks”. If the guy is longer, faster, etc, more so. Usually you have to box back until you’ve broken them down enough. You shouldn’t go wasting stamina trying to punish a guy who’s expanding next to nothing playing keep away. I clearly remember Canelo adapting and boxing (not running around) Jacobs. Bivol is a different fighter but Canelo looked fairly one-dimensional, and reminded me of Valdez with that right hand spamming. Canelo had little issue getting to Lara. He punished Lara’s body and won that fight. Boxing fans just love to overrate the “boxers”. The thing with Jacobs is he's not exactly a great boxer. Like he can box some but he's not the best at managing distance and can't fight backwards as well as Bivol. The three fighters I named all had good footwork and can fight just as well going backwards as they can going forward. But against those types of fighters you really have to be willing to risk taking some shots and getting on the inside. Canelo simply does not work his way inside and rather just tries to load up on big shots but they will never work against these caliber of fighters. What has worked in Canelo's favor as he has continued to go up in weight classes is that he's had the hand speed advantage in all his fights. That wasn't always the case at LMW and if you fight with his type of economical style, you BETTER have that advantage or else you are going to be in trouble. And when Canelo loads up on shots, he does that little hop step before throwing his shot and Floyd mentioned he had keyed on that and was able to easily get away from those shots. Really interested in seeing the type of adjustments he makes in the rematch...If he can even make any adjustments.

He also didn’t have his same speed at 175lb

Bivol might just have his number Yes, but Canelo did not look much better against Floyd and Lara either. What he relies on is landing some hard counters to deter his opponents but he can't do that against boxers that know how to control distance and have good defense. You have to be willing to pressure them and close the distance that way. Canelo does not do that and just continues to load up on shots and when he misses, he ends up getting tired since they are all power shots. Canelo barely landed any head shots vs either Lara and Bivol and they were mainly for the same reason despite those two fighters having different styles. He would struggle mightily against someone like Hopkins who would make him look silly if he just tried to throw those heavy shots.

Everyone has problems with guy with pedigree who doesn’t take risks. At this point, the “boxing” style is just synonymous with “won’t take risks”. If the guy is longer, faster, etc, more so. Usually you have to box back until you’ve broken them down enough. You shouldn’t go wasting stamina trying to punish a guy who’s expanding next to nothing playing keep away. I clearly remember Canelo adapting and boxing (not running around) Jacobs. Bivol is a different fighter but Canelo looked fairly one-dimensional, and reminded me of Valdez with that right hand spamming. Canelo had little issue getting to Lara. He punished Lara’s body and won that fight. Boxing fans just love to overrate the “boxers”.