"As a promoter you don't want the most difficult fight."

I'm not dismissing the possibility that I could be wrong. I'm just telling you what I think regarding this situation based on my ability to comprehend this specific situation. I see no reason whatsoever for Alvarez to pay an amount like $100,000 for his opponent to move up one pound in a fight which doesn't even offer a title for no reason. Sure, $100,000 may seem like chump change compared to what Alvarez is making but it's still a serious amount for one extra pound in a fight which provides absolutely nothing to Alvarez other than staying active. The fact that he remains at the 155-156lbs limit in his next fight, which is a very important/serious one, further proves(to me) that he simply can't make 154 anymore. In addition to all of that, he also made recent comments that he would be very interested in fighting Cotto. That further proves that his intentions of fighting at 154 are clearly no more.

 

Exactly, which is why his next fight is also at a similar weight because he clearly can't make 154 anymore.

 

Oh, so now we're putting stock into what Alvarez says? You can't have it both ways. Alvarez also said he has no plans to move up in weight. Back to the overweight money. Look at the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight. Mayweather forked over 600k for 2 lbs. Did it look he was having any trouble making weight? Not in the least bit. He paid that money because it was chump change to him, and he was intent on not draining himself an ounce. Canelo seems to be taking the same approach. He's not going to drain himself if he doesn't have to. There is zero reason for him to fight at the limit against Lara. So why would he do it?

As far as a Cotto fight, that is not an indication that he's definitely moving up. Cotto is not even a real MW and that's a huge money fight. Anyone will move up for a fight if big money is involved.

 

Just because you choose not to go down to a certain weight doesn't mean you can't. Garcia has to sweat it out for the last couple of lbs to make 140. He does it though because he's the champ. No way would his fight against Salka be at the limit if no title was on the line.

 

Those rankings wouldn't hurt Canelo or Lara. Plus, if it's so easy for him to make 154 lbs., why not actually make weight!? Let's just do this, since belts and rankings don't matter. Ever fighter just fight at whatever weight they want until they get a big fight in which all the boxing forums unite and say it's a fight worthy of making weight. Dude, you're being very, very naive. Belts are ****, but there are bounds of reason.

Oh, and I already said this division it doesn't matter.

Some of the divisions need someone to push the fighters to fight someone. Right now, light welterweight is in need of that to keep Garcia from fighting guys like Salka. The IBF gave Groves his much needed rematch and they're currently pushing Klitschko to fight Pulev instead of the easier Stiverne. Oh, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with the WBO doing it to force Quillin/Korobov because Quillin's last two opponents have been dismal (Rosado and Konecny).

 

Sorry buddy, there is no good reason for Canelo to fight at the limit for this fight. That belt means jack **** to Canelo and won't effect viewership. Canelo will also be the highest ranked fighter at JMW if he wins this fight, despite it taking place over the limit. And do you really think that Canelo's ability to score a big fight will be hampered by him fighting Lara above the limit? The answer is no.

 

What he says was one example out of three different examples I used, I can see why you decided to pick on that considering you had a response to it.

While Mayweather's case appears to be similar to you, it actually isn't. Mayweather-Marquez had a Catchweight deal right when they signed to fight, which also means that this deal was sorted, dealt with and read before both went into training camps. Surely you know that this also means they had enough time to work on a conditioner or whatever other way they had in plan to make the weight requirement signed and dealt with beforehand. Mayweather failed to make the Catchweight but still made the official Welterweight limit, which is why the commission has no involvement, Catchweights are dealt with privately through contracts. Mayweather paid a penalty both agreed on before the fight happened. Totally different scenario here.

Canelo is taking the same approach, as you already said it, because he won't "drain his self" and by "Drain his self" it also means that anywhere below 155 for him is being "Drained". Obviously that means he can't make Light Middleweight anymore, which is my point in the first place. If he can make the weight he wouldn't pay $100,000 for not being able to make it, very simple, right?

As far as Cotto is concerned, he just weighed in at the Middleweight limit and beat the WBC and Lineal Middleweight champion in the world, which means he's as real as can be regardless of circumstances. I remember people saying Pacquiao isn't a real Welterweight in 2009, Martinez isn't a real Middleweight when he challenged Pavlik, Hopkins isn't a real Light Heavyweight when he challenged Tarver, Spinks isn't a real Heavyweight when he challenged Holmes, Mayweather isn't a real Welterweight back when he was challenging undisputed champion Zab Judah, Haye isn't a real Heavyweight when he challenged Valuev and the examples are endless. He made the weight limit and performed as good as can be so he definitely belongs there.

 

Again, he's not going to pay the amount he paid if he could. If you want to continue ignoring the Angulo payment and consider it chump change, why did he ask for Lara to move up in his next fight?, he could have fought him at 154, right?

Regarding Garcia, his next fight will be his last at 140 because he already stated that he's facing difficulties making the weight at this stage of his career. As I previously stated, fighters don't necessarily move up based on personal preference, sometimes they have to do it because their bodies can't handle it.

 

A championship title could make wonders when it comes to advertising and attracting casuals. Why do you think most nameless titles exist?, to deceive casuals into believing a world title is on the line based on random photos. Hell I knew people back then that thought Audley Harrison was the world champion for holding the WBF title.

 

I've already said it in my first post that rankings might not even matter in this division.

I'm sure belts did matter when Canelo fought Trout though, so he pretty much destroyed your argument that belts don't matter to him. He can't make 154 lbs. anymore is why he's not fighting for the title on the line. If he could make it, he would. I'm not sure why he would pay Angulo money he didn't have to if he could make weight.

 

Canelo's fight against Angulo was a non title fight. Cotto's fight against Martinez was for the WBC/Ring and lineal titles. Both fights did about the same amount of buys. People buy fights based off of name recognition, not titles.

 

I know they do, all I said was that titles add more to the poster and hype. People tend to be attracted more when they know it's a championship fight.

 

Surely you know that Schaefer was going around calling it a guess weight fight. Surely you also know that Mayweather continually referred to it as a WW and said he would weight what a Welter weighs. He clearly had no intention of making the contracted weight unless he could do so without draining himself. Canelo already knows he has to drain himself a bit to make 154. Therefore, there's no need to bother with any shenanigans.

You're a bit off here. The commission has a duty to fine fighters for not making the contracted weight. That's why a new contract was written and submitted to the commission a day before the fight.

Incorrect. Again, just about every fighter has to drain himself a bit to make weight. It's no different than in MMA and wrestling. Most of these guys aren't fighting at their walk around weight. They generally need to lose 15 or more lbs. typically the last 5-7 lbs. are dropped in the week of the fight. Right now Garcia has to drain himself to make 140. Does that mean he can't make the weight? Obviously not. With 25 hrs to recover, you can drain yourself and be at about 90% or better come fight night. That is typical for most boxers,

I've already explained why this isn't necessarily the case. There's no need to go in circles.

Cotto weighed in at 155 for his fight against Martinez. He is not a real MW. He's smaller than Alvarez. I would think most people on here would get it when you say Cotto is not a true MW. Just because you're fighting above your natural weight, does not mean you can't have success.

 

Then why weren't more people attracted to the Cotto/Martinez fight? If you follow the sport you know that Lara's belt is bogus. If you casually follow the sport, you probably believe that just about everyone has a belt anyway. Mayweather/Maidana was a unification bout; the first one at WW in ten years. The fight was panned and underperformed. Belts don't have the effect on viewership that they used to.

 

I didn't say belts mean nothing to Canelo. I said this particular belt means nothing to him. Canelo just lost to Mayweather in a WBA JMW title fight. Why would he get any satisfaction out of winning a WBA JMW title against Lara, when he just lost the WBA champ in the form of Mayweather?