Comments Thread For: Hopkins: Canelo Would Sweep 175 Division. He Can Compete at Cruiserweight

[Nightfall]

Well with regards to Hopkins point, if Canelo fights at Cruiser the big question is how much weight will he risk to fight there while scoping out any possible return to 168. It could mean that Canelo goes to 168 again doing so, with 175 being the minimum. OR, Canelo adds very little weight to compete at Cruiser and just RISKS everything on Defensive maneuvers. Cruisers are HUGE! Canelo would be fighting guys 30lbs difference on fight night. Can't see Canelo bigger than he already is if he wants to perform tip top. Yeah Canelo is stocky and huge for his height, but if he comes in looking like Vinny Paz vs RJJ at Cruiser it could be very risky on his gas tank.

BUT I'm down if Canelo fights at Cruiser while being 30lbs less in weight than his competitor because it goes back to OLD SCHOOL fighting days. Besides, if David Haye got in there with Valuev then I see no problem attempting Haye's point of view that he would be significantly faster than the bigger guy. Just cruise 12 rounds being defensively safe as he did against GGG. I don't see any Cruisers with the Ring IQ or athleticism that GGG had, so everything's possible.

IF Canelo does all of this, it could be a wake up call for fighters not worrying so much to drain to make weights, regardless if he did it himself.

good points a gain but i'm totally against the cruiseweight thing. it's not necessary. If Alvared can pick off Bivol and Beterbeiv at 175 its a wrap

[Lefty0616]

Canelo is my pick for P4P the best right now. He's at the top of his game, but he's a small middleweight. Because he dominated a few middleweight champions, the reality of his success at 175 is being overestimated. Let's face it, he unified the middleweight division beating a couple of true sized middleweights with no power. I say let's see how he does against Benavidez or maybe even Charlo first, before we jump to conclusions. Canelo hasn't faced a good power puncher since GGG, and GGG barely walks around at 160. I do not put much weight on Kovalev. He seems to have fallen from grace.

Here's a thought though. If Canelo wants to hover around 175, can he draw Ward out of retirement

[Mooshashi]

Sure...LHW, CW, whatever. May as well go up to HW and fight the winner of Usyk-Joshua II. Make the winner drain down to a "catchweight" of 202, schedule the bout three weeks after their last fight, make them fly from Europe to Vegas so they are jet lagged, bring back Adelaide Byrd and the other usual suspects, Canelo picks the gloves, the ring size, the referee. Now that's greatness.

Payday, payday.

[Marvlus Marv]

Everyone's gangsta at 175 until King Artur enters the room... "You were saying.. gentlemen?"

[tokon]

James Toney at 168 would be a great fight for Canelo. Toney went from 160 to 200 and beat heavyweights like Holyfield. Canelo beats them all at 175.

Toney was blatantly juicing from 175 up, even failed tests for steroids.

[Boxing Beast]

Canelo needs to stay where he is at and just defend 168. If he could win at cruiser weight it would speak to the divisions weakness more that to his greatness. Hopkins had a great boxing mind during his career. Now he has great CTE, Canelo may want to listen to someone else.

[-Kev-]

As a big fan of Canelo and his career/resume/accomplishments and willingness to fight literally everyone he was “supposed” to fight, I think 175 may have winnable fights but it’s not guaranteed.

Eventually fighters try to go above their ceiling and fail miserably. We see them pretty invincible and hard to imagine he would get KO’ed hard. This is due to their dominance.

I do think that Canelo’s boxing ability, iron chin, and very respectful power, can lead him to wins over Bivol, Beterbiev, Benavidez, and Smith Jr.

Canelo also had a lot of pride and takes it personally when fans say he is ducking someone, this is why his resume is littered with the best name of his era from Mayweather to GGG. This might be his downfall. He is just too prideful and would fight anyone his critics tell him to.

Canelo has a bunch of fights against guys that fans accused him of ducking.

Trout
Lara
GGG
Jacobs

He was also accused of being scared of fighting Kovalev at 175, and that he will drain him.

His critics have no chill button. Some of the usual suspects even said he wouldn’t fight Callum Smith.

It’s going to be interesting if he dominates 175, what his critics will say. What new name he needs to fight. They are going to start talking about how he is too scared to fight an Orca or something ****** like that.

[eco1]

Let the guy defend his belt @168 for a year or two. I don't understand this pressure of forcing him to be undisputed @175. Canelo is a first ballot HOF, I don't have a problem with him taking it slow at this stage of his career.

He has been taking it slow fighting nobodies with clauses in all fights, wtf are you talking about?

[MONGOOSE66]

I also think he will slice through the light heavyweight division like a hot knife through butter.
Bigger men are SLOWER than small men. He could EASILY outbox cruisers. IF he stands and fights big men. He COULD have some problems BUT it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t. He’s that good.

[factsarenice]

No need..he can stay at 168 and fight Andrade.

The simple fact is that Andrade is, and will remain, avoided. I don't see anything that will change that and sadly, Demitrious himself made it easy by not positioning himself into the mandatory position with all 4 sanctioning bodies. It may be too expensive or maybe he felt his amateur pedigree would have been enough but in either case he's not mandatory and not at the top of anyone's list.

As an amateur Andrade went to the Olympics, won the US Nationals & Golden Gloves twice. There is no questioning Andrade's skills and every trainer, promoter and manager know it because they all pay close attention to the Golden Gloves. All that "GTFO" nonsense and dismissal by Canelo had nothing to do with boring or money, it had to do with risk reward and Andrade is without question a very difficult fight for everyone, including Canelo.

The problem Andrade has is that he's not a mandatory hasn't staied busy enough and nobody from 160lbs up to 168lbs are willing to fight him. On top of that Andrade is 33 and likely losing the motivation it takes to remain elite and rebuild his brand at the same time.

In the end, we will never know if Canelo could beat Demetrius Andrade because Canelo isn't fight Andrade today, tomorrow or ever and neither will anyone else without him offering ****** money, slips or ages out.