Canelo is the 155 champ, not the middleweight champ

You're a little too high on GGG. But you are right about Canelo. He is making a weight class of his own to try to drain/blow up everyone else so they are uncomfortable... Cotto's reign as middleweight was a big farce. Canelo must fight GGG.

 

Yep, if he doesn't defend at 160, he is no MW champ.

 

I agree he should have to defend the title at 160. But given this highly unorthodox situation with the Injury to Martinez and Cotto catchweights, Canelo should have a reasonable amount of time before he is required to defend that title, at a weight he has never fought at.

We all want to see Canelo vs GGG, but isn’t it a fight worth waiting for? It’ll only get bigger and bigger the longer we wait. I think Canelo still has some unfinished business in 154. Canelo in time will grow into a Full Middleweight but now he is still a Jr Middleweight, and has an opportunity to re-capture his 154-lb titles that lay vacant.

Ask yourself, who else should have the right to fight for those 154-lb titles? Canelo is #1 in that division so he should be first in line for a title shot, right? Canelo is #1 at Jr Middleweight and unranked at Middleweight.

That doesn’t mean he should be stripped of the Middleweight Title. He won it, it’s his and he should not be rushed to defend at 160 until he’s ready, especially after all that shenanigans we’ve seen at MW since Martinez / Cotto.

 

Just for the record, the FLoyd/Canelo weight stipulations were at FLoyd's
insistance. The Cotto/Canelo catchweight was at Cotto's insistance.:deal

 

Defending against Golovkin within a few months was a condition of Canelo fighting for the WBC title, and he signed that.

 

Cotto was given the shot against Martinez because Cotto is a big name and a multi weight champion and top fighter. Everyone was picking Martinez to beat him regardless of the leg.

That being said, this catchweight **** Cotto did at his MW run was ridiculous. Canelo would have made him fight at a catch weight regardless so that one doesn't bother me as much but they both need to knock this **** off.

And YES, GGG is the real MW king. If Canelo fights him, which he won't, GGG is going to destroy him. That weight and size advantage El Gringo is used to having won't help him against the beast Golovkin.

 

But that’s just it. He earned his shot at the middleweight #1 fighter (GGG) by winning the Lineal version of the World Title. Him holding that title makes him GGG’s top challenger. If he were to be stripped of that title before getting an opportunity to fight GGG, then he would lose the shot he’s earned by winning that title yesterday?

So it’s very important Canelo is not stripped of that title. He won the title fair and square. He can help build the GGG fight up by picking up more titles at 154-lb.

Once Canelo moves up to 160 for a fight with GGG, he’ll have a chance to be the undisputed MW champ, which would require him to stay at 160 from that point on. But while he still can make 154-lb he might as well use that as an opportunity to win more World Titles as he prepares for GGG.

Simply put, Canelo is the real Middleweight Champion, but he’s still a Jr Middleweight fighter, and ranked in that division. Being #1 at 154 gives him an opportunity to be a dual weight division champion. I’d like to see some good matchmaking from DLH and Golden Boy here.

 

Cancelo will have to man up or get the F out of this weight class.

 

Important point. Many posters here have tried to blur these lines and blame these catchweights on Canelo. (since now he’s the MW champ for example) It was Floyd’s insistence to force Canelo to agree to a catchweight. It was Cotto who weight drained MW’s like Geale.

Canelo hasn’t done any of that stuff to other fighters so until he does, he should be praised for not doing what fighters like Pac Floyd and Cotto have done in the past to weaken their opponents at the negotiation table!

 

Defending the title vs Canelo was also a condition of the contract when it was signed, which Cotto violated when he refused to pay the sanctioning fee.

 

I partly agree. I agree until he defends at 160 he is not a TRUE Middleweight Champion. That can be said though about any Middleweight Champion in history. It’s one thing to win it, but until you actually defend it, you aren’t really The Man. That line has been said a lot throughout boxing history about the MW title and rightfully so.

However, inherently I don’t see anything wrong with being a dual division World Title Holder. In fact, I think it’s a huge accomplishment for any boxer.

Of all the stuff that Mayweather has done, the fact that he held both the 147 and 154 lb titles was a huge accomplishment. I wouldn’t have had a problem with Floyd not defending his 154 lb titles for 2 years if there wasn’t so much controversy with the Canelo fight.

The fact that it was a MD should have resulted in an immediate rematch at 154. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a fighter holding a title for a year without defending it.. so long as he is remaining an active fighter and especially if that fighter if fighting in other World Title fights.

However he did it, Canelo managed to capture THE Middleweight Title from a future HOFer in Cotto. Cotto somehow managed to take that title off a future HOFer in Martinez. Injury or not, catchweight or not, those were Title Fights and Canelo is now the Champ. The urgency for that Title to be defended now is not as great as the urgency to crown a new 154-lb champ! That's important for us to have fighting champions, and Canelo should have to defend at 160 eventually, without a catchweight. But he shouldn’t have to defend it next vs GGG, he shouldn’t have 15 days to decide, that’s ridiculous.

Canelo should have up to a year (at least) to decide what to do at 160, and in the meantime should be able to re-capture his 154-lb titles.

 

atsch Doesn't anyone remember that GGG was paid $ 800,000 to step aside thus allowing the Canelo/Cotto fight ?

Canelo accepted WBC's stipulation that if he beat Cotto, he had a mandatory fight with GGG, allowing a 15 day grace period to sign.

Defending O$CAR/Golden Boy's false claims is shameful when the facts state that Canelo either fights GGG for the middleweight tittle, or the tittle/belt will be stripped.

 

Cotto is still a good 154 scalp. Put him next to Lara and Canelo's record is getting fairly good for a 25 year old. Of course, I think he narrowly lost both, but the record is what it is.

 

What I was getting at was by Cotto not agreeing to the sanctioning fee which was part of the signed contract, other parts of that agreement are considered null and void.