What does Canelo have to do to win over his critics?

Stop deck stacking and fight who people want him to fight at that time.
Same for any A side boxer.

Canelo at least fights often.

 

What can he do?

There's nothing that he can do to win those people over.

Strange that people can't appreciate the career that he has had.

 

His 168 run from December 2020 to November 2021 was enough to silence most of his objective critics imo. I'm talking the people who aren't hung up about September 2017. That isn't to say 168 was the most stacked division in boxing or the Smiff/Saunders/Plant gauntlet was against Ring magazine top 10 pound-for-pound fighters or anything, but it was still impressive. He was active (during covid no less), fighting on different promotions (impressive in this day and age), took 3 different Os (sure, against weaker champs, but still) and overall had the classiest 4-belt undisputed run outside of Bhop and Usyk. Not including Billy, his Smiff and Plant wins may also age well too. You can pick this run apart, but it's still impressive in this day and age, and that's not up for debate

That being said...

Canelo still doesn't have a signature win. He just doesn't, and it really hurts his legacy in the eyes of many educated boxing fans. Nothing pre-Floyd was signature. Nothing post-Floyd was signature. GGG2 was poisoned by GGG1. Jacobs hasn't aged well. Kovalev had all sorts of asterisks. Smiff/Saunders/Plant are viewed as second-rate champs. GGG3 was still poisoned by GGG1, and what people aren't willing to admit is that even if Canelo had beaten Bivol it wouldn't've been as highly regarded as it would be now due to the massive amount of hype and exposure Bivol has received post-Canelo. Now Canelo (or Eddie?) is trying to cook up some kind of Bivol rematch at 168 with absolutely everything stacked in Canelo's favour which is just ****ing sad to see and I say that as a Canelo fan. Canelo could bash up the Makabu-Jack winner to become a 5-division champ, and his career still wouldn't be viewed like JCC's/ODLH's/JMM's careers were. Even if Canelo fought Spence or JermEll at a catchweight and won it wouldn't be valued the same way a SRL-Hearns would be. At this point in time I think Canelo would have to stop/drop an undefeated Beterbiev with no contract stipulations, or stop/drop Benavidez, and even then Benavidez hasn't made himself a giant name yet. He really ought to have snacked on the JermAlls of this world before Plant imo

Canelo needs a signature win to seal his career. No dumb Usyk 201lbs crap, but a proper, organic win, because right now GGG2, Kovalev and Plant are probably the 'best' he's got

tbh no matter what Canelo does the Adalaide Byrd card will always haunt his (and GGG's) careers. He probably doesn't care in his giant mansion, but I care and thousands of other boxing scholars do too

 

Spot on! Nice write up!

 

Nothing for me. In my eyes he is a great fighter who tarnished his legacy. He can’t jump in a Time Machine to change that.

 

Good post, bruv.

 

When you get two gift decisions over your main rival (GGG) that doesn't usually help your popularity.

 

If he could clear out a good division before he retires, rather than jumping up and down in (catch)weight selectively, it'd help. I used to pretty much despise Canelo (Golovkin fan), but I came round after the Smith fight, and after Saunders and Plant, I was pretty sold on him being top 10 P4P at least. If he could go on another run like that, it'd do wonders for him. He needs to stay the **** away from a Bivol rematch though because I can't see any way he wins that unless they fight down at 160.

 

Well said, young man. A "signature win" is a necessity IMO for an ATG, even for entry into the HOF in which the bar is set very low lately.
Had he beaten Bivol, or Canelo in I or II (third fight vs an old GGG is irrelevant and Canelo didn't look great either) or Floyd for that matter the issue will be sealed. Beating up C level Englishmen doesn't get you into the boxing Olympus.

He's been ducking Benevidez forever and I don't know why. Beat him FFS, beat Bivol at 168 then we'll talk.

 

Yep Bivol can tarnish his legacy even worse. Imagine if Bivol moves down, takes all his belts and dominates him.

 

It'd make Bivol a superstar though. Would love to see it because I think Bivol's one of the best boxers around and he needs some recognition.

 

For me, him giving GGG the respect he deserves, before and after the fight, is a start. Before the fight as it got closer, he said Golovkin is a great, strong fighter and he said the same after the fight, which is alot coming from him. Going forward i think he has to know his limitations. To me, a return fight against John Rider is ok. Ryder is no scrubb, he just upset Jacobs and should have a win over Smith. Then win or lose, he should fight Benevidez if he is the winner vs Plant. If Canelo can pull off a Hagler vs Hearns type win over Benevidez that would be amazing. He does have a chin for the job, whether he can pull that off is another story.

 

Nothing, he can’t, it’s just how some people are.

 

There's nothing he can do. Some people will always hate him for whatever reason.