Canelo v The Brits

Matthew Hatton - welterweight domestic level who was campaigning at 147. Hatton took everything Clenelo dished out and fought his heart out and lasted the full 12 rounds

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Ryan Rhodes - shot but still lasted into the 12th

Amir Khan - grotesque size mismatch between a blown up 140 pounder and a natural 168 pounder. Khan boxed his ears off prior to getting clipped with that Clenbuterol bomb from hell from a way bigger and heavier opponent

Slick school

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Liam Smith - terrible camp, very little sparring after getting cut very early into it. Fought like an absolute boss, taking the fight to Clenelo and trading with him. One of Clenelo's tougher fighters

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Rocky Fielding - crippled after the rehydration clause

Calum Smith - short notice, terrible sparring due to Covid restrictions, torn bicep and was a shadow of himself on the night. 175 Smith is a completely different animal

Billy Joe Saunders - terrible form at 168 and is much better suited to 160. Was doing well and holding his own and was just about to slip into full Brit Slickness mode when he suffered the freak eye/cheek injury from that Clenbuterol bomb

John Ryder - everything heavily stacked against him: Fighting Canelo in his home city in front of 55,000 rabid Clenelo fans, at altitude in the sweltering heat, on a stage of that magnitude for the first time. Shoe box sized ring which robbed him of his slickness and made it much more difficult for him to defend himself. Suffered two broken nostrils at the end of round 2 which were bleeding profusely for the rest of the fight but despite all this fought his heart out and gave Clenelo plenty of problems down the stretch and somehow managed to sweep the championship rounds and finish the stronger fighter.

The plan was for Clenelo to come over here to fight Ryder. Clenelo said he'd love to fight over here on the shores of the tiny majestic isle of Great Britain aka the ''home of boxing'' in front of the greatest fans in the world but let's be honest he bottled it.

 

He absolutely did. He even bottled it facing Juan Ryder in the US. He wanted to cripple him with the altitude and the sweltering Guadalajara heat.

“I’ve already texted [Canelo’s trainer and manager] Eddy Reynoso to say ‘John Ryder is mandatory, let’s go in May at the Emirates’.

“It would be a dream for Ryder, he deserves it. He is a very good fighter and he’s the mandatory challenger for Canelo Alvarez.

“This could be our chance to bring Canelo to the UK, it would be unbelievable. We’ll see if we can get it over the line.”

“His plan now is to go and become undisputed – that’s a fight with Caleb Plant.

“And then from there he wants to go and box around the world.

“He’d love to fight in the UK, I think his popularity here is through the roof.

Responding to questions on Instagram Live, Hearn said on Tuesday: “‘Eddie, bring Canelo to Wembley’ – I’ve already spoke to Canelo about coming to England to fight next year.

“And he would love to do it, love to fight in England.”

He then teased a potential plan to bring Canelo over as he read out another comment: “Yes, ‘Canelo vs Ryder in February at the O2 Arena.'”

So it may come as a surprise that Alvarez is a secret Anglophile whose ambition is to fight in this country. “I've been thinking this for a long time,” he tells Telegraph Sport. “I would love to fight there, and believe me, it's going to be soon.”

 

Clenelo said he really wants to fight over here in the UK himself. Fighting a gorilla in their habitat is way more risky and dangerous than fighting them in yours.