What keeps Canelo Motivated? (Or any wealthy fighter)

Imho opinion he doesnt know to do anything else. He became pro at 15. What he does is, virtually, what he has been doing his whole life.

And I dont think he (or any other wealthy fighter) has half the motivation he had when he was poor as a rat (not a normal rat, a poor one). Canelo is not motivated anymore, simple as that, imho he continues because of inertia.

Malignaggi told it very clear in the video posted in this forum with cotto and judah. The only reason he got up when cotto put him down to the canvas was that if he didnt get up, he would have had nothing to eat, he was broke as hell. He admitted that at the end of his career (with plenty of money) he would have stayed on the ground.

Main (and only, imho) real motivation is to feed your family. All that "legacy", "beat the bests", "challenge myself"... is nothing but BS. Well, it could be considered motivation, yes, the same way that cigarettes without nicotine can be considered cigarettes, or no-cafeine coffee can be considered coffee.

Did you remember isaac cruz fighting tank davis? that's motivation. There is only one thing that can give a fighter that, and I'm not talking about all that "legacy" BS.

 

You'd want $200 million. For your kids' kids' kids.

 

I think you have a very sheltered and narrow perspective on this. I’m a fairly big boxing fan and I don’t share your view at all, and casuals really don’t share your view. Canelo is already viewed as maybe the greatest Mexican fighter of all time, he’s considered the best today by most people in boxing.

Those criticisms you make can be more easily made against Floyd, and nobody remembers even today at what time in their careers he beat guys like DLH, Cotto, Canelo and Pac. He has victories against all of them, even though I think they all beat Floyd in their primes. Do you think people will remember that Kovalev had a short preparation for the Canelo fight, or will they remember the knockout and the light heavyweight victory for Canelo?

You can say there’s no legacy for Canelo in your mind, but remember that you are in a minuscule minority on that.

 

What you’re saying is easily disproven because fighters continue to fight long after they can feed their family. Then you have fighters who fight for their country (Cubans who refused to turn pro), you have pros taking pay cuts to make fights happen for legacy (Lomachenko). Then there’s the basic psychological fact that motivation is driven by intrinsic factors, not external rewards. Boxing isn’t a comfortable or a guaranteed way to make money, so your opinion doesn’t hold up to scrutiny on any level.
If Canelo wasn’t motivated then why is he stepping into different weight classes and fighting guys like Bivol when he could choose any scrub to make 10s of millions against?

 

Oh okay so Canelo doesn't stack the deck, fix fights, buy judges, take fights at the most opportune time? This makes him champion material does it?

I'm sorry but if you ignore this kind of stuff you're not a fan of boxing but a fan of the promotion and the product you have been fooled into believing

 

Nah. $100mm, I'm not getting out of bed. And I'm having door-dash deliver me a breakfast burrito and a mimosa, thx.

 

I see no evidence at all for the first three, you could have suspected it a bit more when he was with DLH but it would still be pure speculation. He is far less of a cherry-picker than Floyd was and he challenges more difficult opposition without all the breaks and retirements. So he’s more courageous and better for the fans outside of the ring, and when it comes to the actual fight he always fights like a champion and comes out on top. He is far more aggressive and willing to put it on the line inside and outside the ring.
He became undisputed at super middleweight, while Floyd was never undisputed. Being undisputed is the biggest achievement in boxing and the only true sign of a champion.

No fan of boxing has anything other than praise and admiration for Canelo, he’s one of the best to ever do it. If you’re not a fan of his style and drive then it’s you who is fused to some product and can’t appreciate what’s in front of you.

 

Naive

LOL whatever, keep believing in/watching that fraud you're only wasting your time

 

inertia. Canelo does it because it is what he has done his whole life (since he was 15). He cant do anything else, he just doesnt know how to. And I repeat that I bet that he's not half as motivated as he was when he was poor as a poor rat.

If you think that "Then there’s the basic psychological fact that motivation is driven by intrinsic factors, not external rewards", then it is pretty obvious that you dont have a family to feed. Have a couple of children and burn those books about cheap-psicology, they are trash. There is no bigger motivation than watching your children crying because they are hungry.

And I repeat, if you want to see motivation, look at isaac cruz vs tank davis. That's motivation. I bet isaac has a familiy to feed and he needs the money, and I mean, he NEEDS it. You will not see those eyes in canelo's face, you will see more talent, that's for sure, you will not see those eyes.

 

Yes as I said, money is a great motivator when you have none. We are talking about Canelo remember? Some boxers simply enjoy boxing, believe it or not.

 

Yes, we are talking about canelo, and I'm saying that he's not motivated anymore (third time I say it). And I repeat it that he does it because he doesnt know how to do anything else (third time I say it, again).

Boxers who enjoy to box I know many. Boxers who enjoy to starve to meet the weight while having plenty of money in the bank, or to wake up at 5a.m. everyday for road work I know none. Probably a big part of him going up and up and up in weight is due to this. I critizice gg for being his whole career at MW, but making the same weight for 20 years requires a ridiculous amount of sacrifice.

Fighters just lose their main motivation when they become rich, it is like that, not a big drama. They continue because of inertia, that's their job, that's what they do, and they dont know how to do anything else. It's not easy to leave the routine, but that's not motivation, that's routine.

 

I think it doesn’t even make sense to make a general statement about him being motivated or not. That always fluctuates and he isn’t turning up to every weight session and sparring session because it’s routine or ‘inertia’. Frankly I think that’s a reductionist claim that is ridiculous. Canelo is known as a guy for always making additions to his training, making adjustments and improvements. He’s not ‘routine’ about what he does in anyway.
As I said, Canelo could make routine defenses against anyone for millions of dollars.

Did you know that Canelo is a businessman? He has clothing lines, fuel stations, and he invests heavily in real estate. Plus his own promotion company. Your idea that he boxes because of ‘inertia’ is clearly nonsense.

 

Nah. Mental strength and discipline.

 

The reason he backed off Margarito was the fact Margarito was beating his body & hurting him.
Pac said he'd never been hit so hard. Collapsed & was taken to hospital with damaged ribs

 

For some boxers the following might be reasons to keep fighting:-

+ They love fighting, simply no buzz like it, especially for the adulation someone like Canelo gets on fight night
+ Once you find something you are truly great at it's hard to substitute anything else in
+ As others have noted it's a short-lived career path if you want a long and healthy later life

I think it's more a question as to why some boxers didn't figyt as regularly as Canelo when prime and then continued to fight too long after personally. If Canelo goes on till he's 40 then i'd be questioning the why