How do we still not know how good Canelo is?

Imagine a boxer being a multi weight class, P4P sensation for nearly a decade, yet it's hard gauge exactly how good he is. His resume looks great "on paper", but when you dig deeper many opponents have asterisks*. Sometimes it's his fault, sometimes it isn't.

Danny Jacobs is the type of guy to work just hard enough to be competitive, but won't work hard enough to try to win. I don't get what the guys deal is. He's strong, athletic, skilled, and talks a good game with an American background. He should be way more popular than he is and gave it a good go against Golovkin. Against canelo, he once again had many rounds where he seemed to be moving at a pedestrian pace, just going through the motions. Can't blame Canelo for this one, but Jacobs is one of his best wins and we didn't get a whole lot out of this fight since Jacobs refused to get out of first gear and really push his opponent.

James Kirkland is certainly one of the more bizarre cases in Canelos career. Are the rumors true that team canelo made him split with ann Wolfe? If that's even remotely true, then that says a lot about both Kirkland and canelo for this to even be a discussion. Has that ever happened in the history of boxing?

Chavez Jr no need to elaborate on this spoiled bum who should get his name legally changed for embarrassing his father. His effort, or lack thereof, made the Jacobs fight look like gatti vs ward.

Lara has been discussed to death so I won't spend much time here. To Canelos credit, he was pressured into the fight and was called out in broad daylight and took the fight. Hard to score, and showed some of Canelos limitations when dealing with mobile technical guys, but he did his best. The fact he has yet to face another opponent with similar abilities is telling however (although the closest would be Saunders, more on him below).

Saunders wrote a check he couldn't cash talking all kinds of trash. Had this gone the distance, we might have seen just how well canelo could adjust to a slippery guy with good footwork. Through no fault of his own, Canelo was simply too much and completely shattered his cocky opponent. You can't be mad at canelo, but outside of schooling lemiuex and beating the underachiever Willie Monroe, what exactly did saunders do? He looked good on film, but wasn't truly tested and fell apart before he could push canelo.

Khan pointless money fight against a glass jawed opponent moving up multiple divisions

Cotto was past his prime and was in a weight class he didn't belong to. Cotto himself was guilty of diva behavior and avoided and credible, genuine middleweight opponents. He had won the title against a very physically impaired Martinez so who knows how good this version of cotto was. Canelo did what he was supposed to do, but cotto didn't look like he left everything in the ring.

Kovalev was an embarrassment. The "krusher" had become the "kan", just peppering away with weak jabs. Gunshy and afraid to pull the trigger, he clearly just wanted to survive or attempt a win the most unremarkable points victory in decades. This was one of Canelos many parlor tricks to dupe the fans into thinking he was actually taking on the best opponents in higher weight classes. This win proved absolutely nothing and I wish I had simply watched the highlights rather than sitting through this embarrassing game of tag.

Plant was a legitimate belt holder and an undefeated skilled boxer. He just wasn't ready for Canelo. Entertaining fight, can't get mad at it. A rematch could be interesting in the future if plant gains experience and improves.

Yldrim was a complete bum coming off of a loss and quit after making no effort at all. His ranking and mandatory status was a joke. Anyone defending this is obviously a fanboy or a troll.

Golovkin 1: I remember ordering this fight. I wasn't one of the people mad at canelo for using lateral movement and trying something different. That was smart. Ggg showed his limitations in footwork and inability to cut off the ring. I haven't scored it personally, but a draw isn't the word way to call it based on memory.

Golovkin 2: now for this fight, I will definitely defend Canelo. Ggg complained about Canelos movement and talked all that Mexican style nonsense. So canelo met him at ring center and said "let's go hombre". What did Golovkin do? Stayed at mid range and started spamming jabs. All that tough guy talk went out the window and we saw ggg for what he really was. He then stormed out of the ring after hearing the verdict in a very unsportsmanlike conduct. He's done nothing since then except what he's good at: beating up overmatched opponents and waiting around for another canelo payday. I don't miss ggg at all and canelo earned the win. It's not his fault his opponent wouldn't open up and use his so called "Mexican style".


Final thoughts

Canelo has had moments where he acts like a complete diva, needing to flex his A side status and tilt everything in his favor. He has moments where he puts his balls on the line giving his opponent exactly what he wants. He is always in shape and always does his best. Canelo is clearly not the same inexperienced guy who got schooled by Mayweather and had improved tremendously. His boxing has a unique blend of sweet science with rough old school Mexican boxing. But the problem is his opponent selection has often either been poor, deliberately selective, or the opponent fails to really step up. He has her to have that "signature win" like Ali vs Foreman or Duran vs Leonard and he really needs it. Canelo isn't getting any younger and I really hope we get see him against a truly elite fighter that can bring out the best in him.

 

Which opponent has truly pushed Canelo to his limits?

What would you say are his 3 best wins?

 

You're one of the only ones to get what Im saying.