Canelo Alvarez moving up to cruiserweight has caused a massive spike on social media, including an uptrend in talk of Floyd Mayweather.
The pair fought in 2013 as Floyd out mastered his young pupil and proved he was the number one fighter on the planet.
Now, as Canelo prepares to challenge Ilunga’ Junior’ Makabu for the WBC cruiserweight title, Mayweather’s name inevitably comes up.
If the Mexican superstar can pull off the unbelievable feat when they trade blows, he will equal Floyd Mayweather’s five-weight division titles.
And that might not be all she wrote. When the announcement got made at the WBC Convention, Oscar Rivas emerged as a target after Makabu.
Rivas holds the WBC bridgerweight crown. It wouldn’t be out of the realms of possibility for Canelo to pinpoint that crown by 2023, either.
That gives Canelo six-weight options – at least – with a run at heavyweight towards the end of his career already discussed by previous promoters.
But it’s the social media debate that began to catch fire on Tuesday night as Mayweather’s name continually came up with disgruntled fans.
One former Floyd Mayweather fighter, ex-world champion Ishe Smith, had seen enough at one point and let fly. Particularly regarding shocking accusations of performance enhancing drugs in Canelo’s superhuman feats.
“The narrative of PEDs around Canelo or every time he fights bringing up his loss to Floyd is old and pathetic,” pointed out Smith.
“Floyd was great that night [against Canelo in 201], and no one at 54 beats him [back then]. A man has a right to redeem himself in life, right?
“Even murderers get that right!”
He continued: “The other narrative that pisses me off is Floyd can’t beat him now. Floyd is damn near 50 years old.
“That man asked for the fight, begged for it, said he wasn’t appearing on any more of Floyd Mayweather’s PPV’s without it. He lost. Get over it!
“Both fighters are great. Both things can be true.”
FLOYD MAYWEATHER BATON
Smith concluded: “Floyd retired and passed that man the baton. The best thing that ever happened to him was losing that fight so young.
“Now appreciate what that man is doing.”
Wise words as always from Smith as Canelo pushes to get recognized as the greatest fighter of all time.
A win over Makabu would do extra to take him into legendary status – that’s for sure.
