Canelo Alvarez entered the ring in the T-Mobile Arena to a Mexican fanfare, complete with traditional dancers and home country music.
It was a great spectacle to behold. A show the former pound-for-pound king has done on many occasions in the past. It was classic Canelo, to begin with, in Las Vegas.
However, things took a Wembley Stadium-style turn that came straight out of the Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn playbook.
Hoisting Canelo high above the crowd on a platform decorated with the Matchroom logo and subsequently firing off the pyrotechnics, it all seemed a bit of a done thing.
That kind of razzmatazz just doesn’t get done at the T-Mobile and isn’t what the Mexican fans want from their fighters. From a position in the crowd, it was clear that most of the Mexican fans witnessing it were non-plussed.
They want their warriors to come into the ring with bad intentions and fewer fireworks igniting. And never to be put up on pedestals before you secure a victory.
Sadly for Hearn and DAZN PPV, they got that one badly wrong. Hopefully, we won’t see that kind of English National Stadium over-the-top showing on the Vegas Strip again.
It simply wasn’t Canelo, wasn’t Cinco de Mayo, and it wasn’t Mexico. At a guess, it maybe wasn’t Canelo’s idea, though.
CANELO ALVAREZ DRAWING BOARD
The undisputed super-middleweight champion has to go back to the drawing board after losing to Dmitry Bivol in a fight he couldn’t gain a foothold.
Despite his jazzy entrance, the crowd didn’t get into their stride, mainly due to Bivol subduing Canelo with his effortless jab.
The crowd was flat all night, leading to suggestions Canelo needs to rethink what he portrays in the future.
Raising his arm aloft as if he’d won and making suggestions after the fight that he didn’t lose seemed out-of-character for the Jalisco native.
GGG
A trilogy collision with Gennadiy Golovkin has to get scaled back in September. The focus needs to be on the action inside the ropes.
Throughout the build-up, baffling chatter overshadowed the headline event, which Canelo has to rectify. Get back to the focused, razor-sharp Canelo we all know and love.
Also, listen to your own body, rather than smoke blown, about how you can beat anyone worldwide at any weight.
There’s a limit, and Canelo has hit it. He needs to go back down to 168, face GGG, Jermell or Jermall Charlo, and Chris Eubank Jr. before contemplating 175 again.
If this isn’t a wake-up call for the superstar, nothing ever will be down the line.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Furthermore, follow WBN us on Twitter @WorldBoxingNews.
