Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is on the hunt for his next opponent, and last week it seemed that Badou Jack was the most likely foe.
Negations for the two to face off for the WBC Light Heavyweight in Saudi Arabia later this year had begun and reported to be “going very well.”
However, things eventually broke down and Badu Jack – who turns 40 in October of this year – took to Twitter to explain what he thinks went wrong, saying that Canelo “wanted to drain the old man and fight me 20lbs under the cruiserweight limit. Plus, a rehydration clause.”
Many fans called out Canelo for this behaviour, but the promoter of his last three fights, Eddie Hearn, has come to the multi-division champion’s defence.
Speaking on The DAZN Boxing Show, he explained why he believes the request is fair.
“I wasn’t involved in those discussions but at the end of the day Canelo is a 168lb fighter so if he’s asked for 180lbs I don’t think that’s overly unreasonable.
You can’t criticize Canelo for asking a cruiserweight who used to box at super-middleweight to come down in weight five pounds over the light-heavyweight [limit]. You can’t just expect Saul to go yeah, I’ll fight you at 200lbs.
He couldn’t even weigh more than 180 lbs if he tried so he would be giving up 20 lbs, probably 30 lbs. It’s dangerous. He’s willing to step up to 175 to fight guys like [Dmitry] Bivol and [Sergey] Kovalev etc but you can’t be stepping up to 200 or 190. That shouldn’t be allowed.”
Instead, it seems as though middleweight champion Jermall Charlo is now in line to fight Canelo, despite coming off a two-year period of inactivity. It’s a move former champion Shawn Porter thinks is unwise on Charlo’s part.