When was the last time Canelo Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KOs) entered the ring as a genuine junior middleweight? Was it when he was a teenager fighting in Mexican bullrings? Without documentary evidence it?s hard to know for sure, but it certainly wasn?t any time recently. And judging by 30-day weigh-in required by the WBC in advance of his superfight with Floyd Mayweather (44-0, 26 KOs), it won?t be on September 14 either.
The idea of a 30-day pre-fight weigh-in is a good idea. One good idea deserves another and it would a good idea if fighters weighed in the day of the fight and not the day before. Disparities in weight hurt the game as well as the fighters, but that quaint notion, an irrelevant old truth, has gone the way of eight divisions.
Mayweather-Alvarez is contracted for a 152-pound catchweight. The maximum weight allowed for the 30-day weigh-in was 169 pounds. Mayweather, who is always in shape, came in at a sleek and ready 150.3 pounds. Canelo, by contrast, came in at 166.8 pounds.
If he is to legitimately make weight by the time of the fight, Canelo will have to lose about 15 pounds in the next four weeks. Radical diets and rapid weight loss programs aside, the likelihood of that happening is slim to none. He may drop a pound or two here and there as he gears up for the fight of his life, but more likely than not he will dehydrate to make weight and rehydrate by fight time.
In his last fight against Austin Trout, Canelo weighed 153 pounds the day before the fight. At the opening bell, his weight had ballooned to 172 pounds.
All that fluctuation can?t be good for the body. It will weaken Canelo, who depends on power and strength. That extra weight will also be a liability when he?ll need speed plus accuracy, while not running out of gas, if he?s to have any hope at all of defeating Floyd Mayweather.
