Canelo: Everybody Want To Fight Me, They Need To Fight Each Other; This Year, I'm Busy

[margaret thatcher]

it was sounding like smoking joe smith and beterbiev were having a unification fight, if they do would love to see canelo fight the winner, and it would fit the criteria of dudes fighting each other. winner of smith-bert would prob not fight canelo before next year, as his 2022 seems set to be bivol-ggg-makabu. although ggg needs to beat murata first

[Perseus]

They need to fight each other and I fight the winner of all of them

The problem with this is that only the winner of it all gets the payday. If you're 50/50 to lose and get knocked out of the sweepstakes, then it's better to wait your turn and get the nearly guaranteed eventual payday. There is a way around that that I don't think anyone in the sport understands. You could book a formal tournament or a formal eliminator in which the guy who gets the Alvarez payday is contractually required to kick back some of his purse to the guy who didn't get to fight Alvarez.

As an example, let's say there's a four-man tournament between Alvarez - Bivol and Beterbiev - Smith. If each of Alvarez's opponents gets a $5 million payday, then you could write-up a contract where the two guys that fight Alvarez get $4 million and the guy who doesn't fight Alvarez gets $1 million from each of their purses.

Another example, but this time not framed as a tournament. Let's say that Alvarez plans to fight Bivol now, and then the winner of Beterbiev - Callum Smith, and then the winner of Joe Smith - Gilberto Ramirez, and then the winner of Benavidez - Charlo. So you can write-up a contract that the loser of Beterbiev - Callum gets $1 million from the purse of the winner when he fights Alvarez. And then do the same thing where the loser of Joe - Ramirez gets $1 million from the purse of the winner when he fights Alvarez, and so on.

If you do it this way, then just by virtue of entering a tournament with Alvarez or entering an eliminator to fight Alvarez, you're already guaranteed to get paid, whether you win or not. It's a win-win for everybody, and a big win for Alvarez himself, because it produces higher-rated opponents to feed his resume, his drawing power, his legacy, etc. Just like, if Haye and Povetkin had fought each other and the winner fought Wlad, then the winner's scalp would've been a much bigger high point on his resume. In Alvarez's case, beating Bivol and beating Beterbiev individually (probably neither being top 10 p4p) doesn't give him as significant of a scalp as if Bivol and Beterbiev fought each other, and the winner (probably top 10 p4p) fought Alvarez. At this point in Alvarez's career, opponents who aren't of Kovalev and Golovkin caliber aren't adding anything to his legacy or drawing power. If you aren't a top 4 scalp, then you're literally adding nothing. The only downside to this approach is if, for some reason, the winner of an eliminator chooses not to fight Alvarez (because of injury or whatever), then it screws everything up and no one gets paid. So you need a plan B for that.

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read.

[KiwiRider]

Charlo, Benavidez and Andrade should fight each other in a mini tourney. The winner would be a legit opponent for Canelo.

Yeah, Canelo should say:
"If you have two belts, you move to the front of the line"
Then these princesses will have to unify or waste their prime waiting for a fight that may never happen.
Canelo could retire whenever he wants, move up, move down, rematch someone he has fought already. There are no certainties.

[Lackeos]

They need to fight each other and I fight the winner of all of them

The problem with this is that only the winner of it all gets the payday. If you're 50/50 to lose and get knocked out of the sweepstakes, then it's better to wait your turn and get the nearly guaranteed eventual payday. There is a way around that that I don't think anyone in the sport understands. You could book a formal tournament or a formal eliminator in which the guy who gets the Alvarez payday is contractually required to kick back some of his purse to the guy who didn't get to fight Alvarez.

As an example, let's say there's a four-man tournament between Alvarez - Bivol and Beterbiev - Smith. If each of Alvarez's opponents gets a $5 million payday, then you could write-up a contract where the two guys that fight Alvarez get $4 million and the guy who doesn't fight Alvarez gets $1 million from each of their purses.

Another example, but this time not framed as a tournament. Let's say that Alvarez plans to fight Bivol now, and then the winner of Beterbiev - Callum Smith, and then the winner of Joe Smith - Gilberto Ramirez, and then the winner of Benavidez - Charlo. So you can write-up a contract that the loser of Beterbiev - Callum gets $1 million from the purse of the winner when he fights Alvarez. And then do the same thing where the loser of Joe - Ramirez gets $1 million from the purse of the winner when he fights Alvarez, and so on.

If you do it this way, then just by virtue of entering a tournament with Alvarez or entering an eliminator to fight Alvarez, you're already guaranteed to get paid, whether you win or not. It's a win-win for everybody, and a big win for Alvarez himself, because it produces higher-rated opponents to feed his resume, his drawing power, his legacy, etc. Just like, if Haye and Povetkin had fought each other and the winner fought Wlad, then the winner's scalp would've been a much bigger high point on his resume. In Alvarez's case, beating Bivol and beating Beterbiev individually (probably neither being top 10 p4p) doesn't give him as significant of a scalp as if Bivol and Beterbiev fought each other, and the winner (probably top 10 p4p) fought Alvarez. At this point in Alvarez's career, opponents who aren't of Kovalev and Golovkin caliber aren't adding anything to his legacy or drawing power. If you aren't a top 4 scalp, then you're literally adding nothing. The only downside to this approach is if, for some reason, the winner of an eliminator chooses not to fight Alvarez (because of injury or whatever), then it screws everything up and no one gets paid. So you need a plan B for that.

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read.

Wrong. This is a system that could actually compel Alvarez's challengers to merge their clout into each other to make them better scalps for his legacy and his drawing power. Without it, the challengers just avoid fighting each other and wait out their opportunity to fight Alvarez, meanwhile Alvarez waits for them to distinguish themselves to get a shot, creating an uneventful stalemate. Not to mention, a consolidated challenger actually poses a more marketable fight that draws more money, so even the challenger makes more money. It's just counterintuitive and unconventional, which is too complex for your stupid brain to process. You actually think these challengers are going to enter a tournament on their own accord when the losers are going to get knocked out of the sweepstakes without making any money? That is stupid. Your position is literally that a win-win is stupid and a smart system would expect challengers to catch L's and deny themselves a payday with no reward. Yeah, that's a really smart system. So why isn't it working? Why haven't Beterbiev, Bivol, and Joe Smith Jr consolidated their belts yet? Oh yes, it's because your system doesn't work to stoke matchmaking.

[Perseus]

Lol.
It's amazing that you are actually defending your incredibly stupid idea of any boxer that has "earned" a fight with the near weight cash cow being contractually obliged to give 20% of his purse to the guy who wasn't good enough to "earn" the fight.
You literally want to penalize the winner with a 20% purse reduction in his next fight.
20% purse reduction........for winning.
They already have to pay the tax man, sanctioning fees, their team and any other obligations they have.

Absolutely one of the dumbest things I have ever read.
Yes the current situation is better than hitting the winning boxer with a large purse reduction for winning.