[Inside The Ropes]: Mayweather vs. Canelo, why Canelo now, and why at 152?

By Mike Moreno for www.itrboxing.com

Now that Floyd Mayweather has “given the fans what they want” more details come to surface from his fight with Canelo. The bout which is set to take place September 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas , Nevada will be at the catch-weight of 152, two pounds south of the Junior Middleweight limit of 154.

Mayweather is where he is at right now not just because of his skills, but also because he is as smart outside the ring as he is inside the ring. Floyd has no problem fighting in the 154 division as he has done it twice before, first time in may of 2007 when he fought Oscar De La Hoya and his second time at that division was just in May of last year when he faced Miguel Cotto. Both De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto had one thing in common, they both saw their better days in lower divisions below 154. De La Hoya and Cotto reached their peek and dominated 140 and 147 , but they where not full sized Junior Middleweights they grew into that division unlike Canelo Alvarez.

So why make Canelo drop 2 pounds, is it really that important? In my opinion and in the opinion of many yes! It wil make a lot of difference in both fighters before and during the fight. Mayweather insisted that Canelo fought at 152 for many reasons, one of the reasons was that Canelo will have to work extra hard and push his body further than he usually does. By making Canelo work extra hard he will most likely be extra drained which can effect his stamina during the fight.

Another reason Floyd wanted Canelo at 152 was because like most fighters Canelo seems to re hydrate a lot of weigh, and by making him drain himself a little extra, it will not stop Canelo from Blowing up as much but it should keep a couple pounds off him. There might be a million reasons why Mayweather took this fight at 152 but one thing is sure he will have Canelo at his mercy before the fight, when it comes to weight.

Of course Floyd contradicts himself a lot at times and sets himself up to be criticized by the public, fans and media. He has always said that he never wants to fight someone at a weight that they do not feel comfortable . he also went as far as to call out Manny Pacquiao on it because he said Pacquaio always makes fighters drain themselves and gets them while they are weak. Before facing Cotto Floyd had this to say: “When i fought De La Hoya i said give him to me at 154. With Cotto give him to me at 154, Gimme the guys where they are comfortable at their weight so there are no excuses”.

Mayweather is getting up there in age so that may also be a factor, couple of years back maybe even last year he would have took Canelo at 154. Canelo is just 22 yrs of age while Mayweather is already at 36 year of age, he will look to get any advantage over the much younger Canelo.

Another question we ask our self is why Canelo now? After the Guerrero fight we saw that Mayweather was still the Mayweather of old and his year long lay-off did not affect him one bit. Everyone immediately asked for the Canelo fight since they saw Mayweather is still the best and Canelo is the best fighter around his weight.

Before this fight was announced both Mayweather and Canelo had played each other off saying they didn’t care to fight each other. Mayweather said Canelo was not a must for him but if the fight did happen, Alvarez would have to come down to 147, something he has not done for 3 years. Canelo also mentioned that he was in no urge to fight Mayweather that if it happened then it happened.

One of the biggest reasons why Mayweather vs. Canelo got made was because the PPV buys that Mayweather vs Guerrero got, or better yet the buys it didn’t . Showtime initially reported that Mayweather Guerrero reached the 1 million buys, later Forbes Magazine released numbers that the fight actually got around 870,000 buys. The number being so low kinda forced Mayweather to make the fight with Canelo happen.

As we know Mayweather recently signed a multi-million dollar deal with CBS/Showtime worth over 204 million for 7 fights, earning around 34 million per fight. Although Floyd gets his money no matter what, it was said that Showtime lost over 12 million dollars from the Mayweather vs. Guerrero fight. Showtime putting pressure on Floyd for a a bigger fight with a bigger opponent may have been on of the biggest factors in this fight getting made.

At this time there is no bigger fight than Canelo, who just happens to be the biggest star in Mexico right now. What could be bigger than the biggest boxer in the world fighting the biggest Mexican star on September 14 which happens to be Mexican Independence Day.

Mayweather may have learned from past experiences and realized how much money he lost, with Mayweather Pacquiao never getting made. With Pacquaio getting Knocked out last December by Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez , there in longer a great buzz or a great payday around a Mayweather vs Pacquaio fight. This time around the same scenario presents it self to Mayweather, make the fight that the whole world wants to see happen!.

ESPN deportes reported that Mayweather could make close to 50 million dollar for the fight vs. Canelo. While on the other side Canelo will make a career best of around 10 million dollars.

Many are already predicting this fight to break PPV records set by Mayweather himself when he fought Del La Hoya in 2007 . This is one of the biggest fights to take place maybe in the last 20 years, you can argue Mayweather vs De La Hoya was just as big, but De La Hoya was declining and was not in his prime like Canelo is. As for Floyd “Money” Mayweather…… well we just saw with our own eyes he is still the pound for pound king and does not seem to be slowing down his pace and his greatness

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