Canelo Reveals he wanted to Fight at 154 lbs, Khan wanted a shot at MW title

Canelo Revealed that he wanted to Fight Khan at 154 lbs, but that it was Khan who wanted an opportunity to fight for the Middleweight Title. Canelo said for his MW to be on the line the limit had to be in the margin of the middleweight.

Do you respect Khan more for wanting to fight for the Bigger Title vs Canelo instead of for a vacant 154-lb title?

 

Yes but Canelo is saying that he didn’t want to be defending his MW title at the JMW limit. If Khan wanted a shot at the MW title, that it would have to be in the margin of middleweight (at a weight that’s above 154 and below 160).

 

Yes the MW weight limit is under 160. But as you well know 154 is generally considered not to be the Middleweight division. 154 is where 154-lb titles get defended not MW titles. This revelation gives you some perspective on Canelo’s thought process. He was considering fighting at 154-lb for a 2nd title (while holding the MW Title). Canelo was exploring fighting Liam Smith (presumably for a vacant 154-lb title, not WBO) and possibly even vs Khan for a vacant 154-lb title.

He's making an important point here saying that Khan wanted a shot for the MW title, and that Canelo agreed but said for that to happen it needed to be above the JMW limit. Canelo is very capable of making 154-lb, but you know it’s probably slightly easier for him to make 155-lbs. Basically what Canelo’s saying here is that he's not going to shed that extra 1-lb to make 154-lb unless it is for a 154-lb title. That to me is what he should be doing because he was #1 ranked at 154-lb for so long he should be first in line for a title shot at 154-lb.

This revelation just shows that Canelo is giving Khan what Khan wants. It would have been ridiculous had the MW title been defended at 154-lb, even though as you correctly state it would have been allowed. Though 155-lb is 5 lbs less than we’d like to see that title defended at, now we know that Khan wanted a shot at that title and that’s why it’s at 155 lbs. Ya’ll know if Canelo Khan would have been fought at the full MW limit or even a 157 lb catchweight everyone would be screaming how unfair those higher weights were to Khan. At least at 155 lb that’s a great opportunity for Khan to keep Canelo within a lb of 154-lb to keep Canelo’s size advantage to a minimum. For Canelo to agree to this weight shows that he respects Khan, but also that he respects his belt saying that it's higher than JMW. All things considered, it just seems to me that Canelo is being very reasonable while still holding firm on his principles.