This Monday marks an important day for two of boxing’s youngest stars. Canelo Alvarez will have met his deadline to decide if he will meet Gennady Golovkin for the WBC middleweight championship. Alvarez is one of the few fighters in the sport who can drop a world title and it have very little significance on his pay checks. If Alvarez decides to forego with facing Golovkin he still has some options available to him at either junior middleweight or middleweight.
There is always the option for Alvarez to have a rematch with Erislandy Lara. Their first bout did well on PPV selling over 350,000 PPV buys and would likely do the same amount of numbers if there were a rematch. Lara since facing Alvarez hasn’t faced the best competition or been involved in fights that have brought out large crowds in attendance. This would be a bout for Alvarez to avenge all critics who thought that Lara deserved the decision in the first bout. This bout would also defer any criticism towards Alvarez for not facing Golovkin, as it would still be against a tough competitor who gave him a tough fight the first time. One of the obstacles for this bout however is the promotional landscape. Since the first bout in July of 2014 the boxing landscape between Golden Boy and Al Haymon has only grown more contentious.
Similar to Erislandy Lara a matchup with WBA regular champion Danny Jacobs would face promotional and political issues. Alvarez would be taking a risk in taking on Jacobs who is still in his prime and has 28 knockouts in 31 fights. Alvarez would be the clear A-side in the bout and have the advantage of facing much tougher competition throughout his career. Regardless of the gap in experience Jacobs has fast hands, fast feet, and deadly knockout power in either hand. A bout between these two young fighters could bring a lot of attention to the sport as Jacobs story while known to all boxing fans could finally be exposed to the casual boxing observer.
The clearest choice and easiest bout to make for Alvarez at middleweight would be a bout with fellow Golden Boy promoted fighter, David Lemiuex. Lemiuex is coming off a stoppage loss to Gennady Golovkin this past October, but could still pose a threat to any middleweight in the division. For Alvarez it would give him a chance to face a middleweight with power comparable to Golovkin and Jacobs. Alvarez would likely be favored in a bout against Lemiuex who would have a punchers chance in the bout. Clearly there are many options for Alvarez and he can choose whichever fight he wants. Whatever bout he ends up choosing should be an exciting one.
– Hector Franco/@MrHector_Franco
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