Oscar De La Hoya believes Canelo Alvarez is in a lose-lose situation in his upcoming fight in the fall.
Alvarez, the undisputed 168-pound champion from Mexico, surprised the boxing world earlier this month when he announced that the first fight in his new multi-bout deal with Premier Boxing Champions would come against the undisputed champion in the 154-pound division: Jermell Charlo. Their fight will be contested at the 168-pound limit.
Many were expecting Charlo’s twin brother, the middleweight titlist Jermall, to be the frontrunner to face Alvarez but he is reportedly not fit to fight due to issues in his personal life.
De La Hoya, the former promoter of Alvarez, believes his ex-charge has put himself into a “Catch-22.” While De La Hoya believes Charlo has everything to gain, since he must scale two weight classes, he foresees the exact inverse scenario for Alvarez.
“From my expertise’s opinion…moving up two weight classes—I mean, first of all, I take my hat off to Charlo for doing that,” De La Hoya told FightHubTV. “I understand that it’s a great payday for him and obviously he took that into consideration when making that decision to fight Canelo. But it’s going to be a tough task. I mean two weight divisions is historical, if he wins, and two weight divisions, he if he loses, he has the perfect excuse. ‘Hey, I moved up two weight divisions.’ So, it’s a win-win for Charlo, I believe. But I don’t think Canelo wins anything by beating a Charlo.”
“It doesn’t make him look bad. … I just think that it’s not a win-win for Canelo, that’s it,” De La Hoya continued. “It’s almost kind of like a ‘alright, lemme win this fight and let’s sharpen up the tools so I can face Benavidez or I can face, you know, the tougher guys.’
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.
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