I guess we should have seen it coming when he arrived at the weigh-in dressed in what looked like silk pajamas. You know what the wonderful Marvin Hagler once said about how hard it is to get out of bed to work outside when you’re sleeping in silk pajamas?
Last Saturday, in a supposed grudge match against what was supposed to be his bitterest rival, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fought with surprisingly little fire and urgency to fight his way to a unanimous decision. It was the second straight flat outing for him in what was supposed to be a legacy fight against Gennady Golovkin.
One can understand looking flat against Dmitry Bivol in May. Bivol was sharp, punctual and unflappable. It was not surprising that Alvarez, moving up in weight, could be neutralized by the Russian.
But against Golovkin, Alvarez was in little to no danger. He was in command through the first eight rounds and Golovkin looked poised to be picked during that period. The Mexican star was hitting the Kazakh, nullifying his ability to plant his feet to make an attack and pushing him back. He just forgot about the part where he was supposed to beat his opponent and not just nullify him.
It doesn’t matter if Alvarez gassed after the eighth round, lost some of his focus or lost ground to a suddenly energized Golovkin. Starting in the ninth round, this was a 50-50 fight when, honestly, it probably should have ended in the ninth.
As I wrote in this Monday’s now-classic Boxing Underground column notes (I say so), perhaps today’s boxing stars are simply cut from a different cloth. Can you imagine Julio Cesar Chavez beating Roger Mayweather for eight rounds and not trying to close the show?
What’s especially disappointing when it comes to Canelo is that he DID seem to have that old school boxing mentality in recent fights. In his race to unify the 168-pound division, however, he looked as old as anyone in this new school world. He defeated his opposition and then eliminated them. It was beautiful brutality.
Saturday’s fight was a tease that left viewers with blue boxing balls and a nagging feeling that they might have been duped. I know I had a serious ball on my face when I had to explain to casual boxing fans watching the fight with me why the bad blood I told them about was nowhere to be seen. And when I-love-you-brother hugged and cuddled after the fight, I felt a little like that time in high school when I overpaid for a dime bag and it turned out to be oregano.
Fighters lose “it”. Happens. The fire sometimes goes out or decreases a lot. Alvarez has flagged a wrist injury that will require surgery. But the comfort and diminished need to prove he has “it” may be the real cause of a low-flame Canelo. The greats close out the show when they clearly can, booing or not.
The 32-year-old is talking about taking a break to heal. Perhaps time and the nagging itch to build an ATG legacy will rekindle the flame. Few boxers seem as affected by outside criticism as Canelo, few are as touchy about their boxing legacies.
But then again, is there a real and urgent need to demonstrate some abstract concept like greatness to people who he knows will halfheartedly reject him no matter what he does? And go through all that hassle when his bank account has a balance in the nine figures?
A reasonable human being would see no reason to fight or risk health to make a point of dominance. Play it safe. Take the “W”. Keep filling in the bank account. That is the intelligent human instinct.
But as I also said in the now classic (I say it again) Notes from this Monday’s Boxing Underground column, this clever human instinct sure isn’t all that convincing a product of boxing.
