Does Anyone Else Not Find Canelo Exciting ?

He has never been an exciting fighter, usually boring.

 

Im on the same boat. Definitely not as exciting as other great Mexican fighters like Chavez, Morales, Barrera, or JMM. He’s been fighting a low output, come forward, one punch at a time style that can be dull to watch at times. Canelo’s always been the kind of fighter that needs the right dance partner for his fights to be exciting.

 

He is past prime and not as exciting anymore

 

Too right. Every fight he has is exactly the same, Bivol excepted. Doesn’t help that you know that he’s won most rounds before he throws a punch. He can make as many excuses as he likes, by telling Jim Gray that no one beats this version of Canelo he’s basically saying that Bivol got lucky against a lesser version. Fight Bivol again. He went to the PBC for a variety of reasons but one was to avoid rematching Bivol. I don’t even consider him a great. He’s a drug cheat who’s picked and chosen his opponents, had everything his own way with the authorities and the judges plus the twice he’s really stepped up he’s been outclassed.

 

Canelo is an exciting fighter.

But no one can look exciting against a craven opponent who runs and looks only to survive for most of the fight, like Charlo did last night.

 

He's not that exciting against bigger guys cos he hasn't the power to split their guards.

He's good to watch against guys is own size who aren't constantly on the back foot.

 

It’s hard to look exciting against a guy who is only looking to survive.

 

Canelo, post-Bivol, operates in a weird space. We know who he can beat and we also know who he can't beat

That's why he's a somewhat boring fighter, and least from a stakes perspective. And this is also why the Benavidez fight is so interesting, because it's one of the fights where the young lion could dethrone the old wolf. Maybe Crawford too to a lesser extent

We like to give Canelo credit for taking on Bivol, but I think it's time to admit that Canelo severely underestimated him and saw that fight as crushing the then-considered weaker champion @ 175

I like Canelo. I like Canelo a lot. I have an official Canelo shirt hung up on my wall next to my Usyk shirt. He's not Duran or Pac or even Oscar, but he's the closest thing we have nowadays, and we should be grateful for that. He's also clearly an elite guy who rules 154-168 with an iron fist. In fact he's so elite that we judge him for crushing the king of 154, who was even bigger than Canelo

I also don't like the knee-jerk narratives being thrown onto Canelo lately, and frankly people who push them in boxing spaces like this where I expect a higher degree of individual thought are outing themselves as NPCs. The Canelo that beat Jermell is the same Canelo that beat Plant and Billy and Callum. Canelo was outclassed by Bivol because Bivol is a horrible match-up for him and Canelo's P4P skills and Vegas judging still wasn't enough to close the gap. He couldn't stop GGG or Ryder because they're tough. Canelo wasn't on the decline. Canelo isn't back. Canelo is Canelo. He's an extremely good fighter and easily the face of boxing post-Floyd (lmao @ Tank). He's professional and disciplined and active. But he also knows WHO he's fighting

Let's be clear here. Canelo is, to some degree, ducking Benavidez and maybe even Bud. I fully expect PBC to feed him JermAll next, which I can tolerate, but after that, anything other than Benavidez or Bud is evidence for the Al Haymon witness protection program being in full effect. Canelo should crush Bud and Canelo should see beating Benavidez as a future investment - so why is he blatantly ducking them?

Canelo is probably the only top 5 P4P fighter whose wins always feel a little off. I don't believe any of his fights are fixed, but his fight selection is always meticulous, and it gives his career a feeling of manufacturedness that Bud, Inoue and Usyk don't have

Bud wanting Crawford @ 168 and Usyk wanting Fury is genuine, old-school P4P greatness. Canelo crushing Jermell is not

 

You cant judge canelo by yesterday's fight.

Charlo didnt show up to fight. He showed up to take the money and run. Zero intention to win, NONE.

What we watched yesterday was not a fight, it was a scam, and it was not canelo's fault.

 

Its not his fault hes an extremely sharp front foot counter puncher it makes his opponents extremely cautious, they wont commit and it makes him have to labor hard to break them down slowly.
Kovalev, Golovkin(fight 2 & 3), Smith, Jacobs, Charlo, Plant, Cotto, Chavez Jr etc they all tried the same with varying success. Try to keep it long, on the move take your turn and then step out of range.
It makes all of his fights look very methodical because people are too wary of his traps and then cover up and move whenever theyre not punching.
Its gotten so bad that people are accusing canelos opponents of taking dives and pitty patting.

Benavidez will be exciting. Trust me.
He needs somebody who goes after him, stays in the pocket and believes in his power

 

I didn't watch last night's fight - I will.
I don't understand at all why there is so much disdain for Canelo (I'm not a Canelo fan, believe it or not), while I understand it for some other boxers.
I haven't been following Canelo for long, but I haven't noticed that:
- he was given victories
- to avoid opponents (chooses opponents), i.e. that he has no heart
If he doesn't have charisma, he still became a professional at the age of 15 (that fact alone is exciting enough).
How many good fights Canelo has given boxing fans?
So I don't get it: Clen, Clenelo, Alvaroid, etc.

 

I don’t find him exciting at all. He’s slow, stalks his opponent, loads up on a couple of punches, doesn’t have fast hands or combinations and gasses out if he can’t knock someone out in the 1st half of a fight…I’ve never found him that interesting…