Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs. Callum Smith - December 19, 2020

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Cent0089]

Good. How much fans are allowed in Texas ?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Good. How much fans are allowed in Texas ?

Davis vs. LSC had around 10k scattered around the Alamodome.

[DrDuke]

A decent bout. Probably Smith gotta take it more seriously than the Ryder one, but still it's pretty hard to imagine Smith lasting for the final bell.

[Ruthless-RKO]

DAZN may carry this fight..

[Enlightened-One]

Canelo’s going to keep swinging the axe to the trunk in order chop down that weight drained tree down!

It’ll be like the Rocky Fielding fight, but it’ll take longer for the Mexican to force the stoppage.

Callum may initially do a Kovalev, by winning some of the early rounds, due to being the busier fighter, but Canelo will own the narrative of the fight, and there’ll be a sense of inevitability about the outcome, as the Brit begins to fade from round five onwards.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Canelo's stablemate Ryan Garcia began tweeting overnight and said he wants a place on the undercard.

His fight with Luke Campbell was postponed earlier this week as the Brit tested positive for coronavirus.

He has already completed his isolation though and so is only planning to push the date back a couple of weeks in December.

[Enlightened-One]

DAZN may carry this fight..

This is an interesting scenario, and one that I predicted could happen.

Canelo was willing to accept a pay cut from the sums detailed in his contract with DAZN to keep fighting, but the streaming service provider wanted him to take less than 50% of the contractually stipulated amount per bout.

Apparently, this wasn't due to DAZN's lack of finances, but because they didn't deem the likes of Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders as "premium" opponents.

However, the actual objective of the lawsuit was for Canelo to become a free agent and to stop working with Golden Boy. I predicted this and Canelo's team subsequently confirmed it.

So if Canelo does face Callum Smith on DAZN, then perhaps he may consider working with that streaming service on a long-term basis (by negotiating a new multi-fight deal), as long as they're willing to outbid ESPN, Fox or Showtime.

It'll also be interesting to see how much DAZN are willing to pay Canelo, assuming they do indeed cover the Callum Smith bout, because if the Mexican successfully negotiates the sums he wants (obviously less than $35m), then this may indicate that it was really Golden Boy's incompetence that forced him to file the lawsuit.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Sources: Canelo Alvarez to fight Callum Smith in December return to ring

After months of conflict between Canelo Alvarez, his promoters and his broadcast partners, Alvarez is finally heading back to the ring. Alvarez will meet Callum Smith to unify WBA super middleweight titles in Texas in December, sources close to the negotiations revealed to ESPN. This will be Alvarez's first appearance since his 11th-round TKO victory over Sergey Kovalev in November 2019.

The target dates for the fight are Dec. 18, 19 or 20, sources said.

Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) faces "Mundo" Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) after he announced himself as a free agent last week. His first business partner will be Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing. It is very possible that DAZN, the broadcaster partner Alvarez was working with before severing ties with longtime promoter Golden Boy, could carry the fight in the U.S.

The fight -- targeted for AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, or the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas -- will come a year after a meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, where Smith's trainer, Joe Gallagher, spent a few minutes with Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez's trainer, to tell him about his interest in an Alvarez-Smith fight.

Both fighters are 30 years old, but Smith is seven inches taller than Alvarez and has about eight inches reach advantage. Smith, like Alvarez, hasn't fought since last November when he scored a contested unanimous decision victory over John Ryder.

Smith is the WBA "super" super middleweight world titlist, and Alvarez has the WBA "regular" belt, but the fight could also be for the WBC super middleweight title that was left vacant when David Benavidez missed weight for his fight against Roamer Alexis Angulo in August and was stripped of the belt.

Alvarez starts a new era as his own promoter with a title fight against a legit opponent. Smith is considered one of the elite fighters in the division, and is ranked No. 1 by ESPN. Hearn's Matchroom also offers other interesting opponents for Alvarez's future in WBO super middleweight titlist Billy Joe Saunders and IBF middleweight world titlist Gennadiy Golovkin. There's also IBF super middleweight titleholder Caleb Plant, who is part of the Premier Boxing Champions group. Alvarez defeated Smith's older brother, Liam Smith, by KO at AT&T Stadium in 2016. Alvarez dropped Liam Smith in the seventh and eighth rounds, before finishing the fight with a body shot in the ninth.

The undercard will be announced in the coming days, but it's likely Julio Cesar Martinez will defend his WBC flyweight title on the card and that the Luke Campbell-Ryan Garcia lightweight eliminator fight, which was postponed on Tuesday when Campbell tested positive for COVID-19, could be rescheduled for that day.

[Cent0089]

Just watched SMith - Ryder again. Man Smith not only lost that fight but he was schooled. I can score it 118-110 for Ryder with no problem. But to be honest, Smith is very skilled, but fought totally wrong fight against Ryder.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Is this getting announced tonight?

[Pukka Cheese]

Just watched SMith - Ryder again. Man Smith not only lost that fight but he was schooled. I can score it 118-110 for Ryder with no problem. But to be honest, Smith is very skilled, but fought totally wrong fight against Ryder.

Didnt score it but felt like Ryder nicked it.
Feel for him..

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Smith fights to the level of his comp

This will be good. Great fight

[Best Coast]

Canelo by late-round stoppage.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Paci]

Awesome.

[dan28uk]

I think canelo will still be a big puncher at super middleweight and with smith long body and canelo’s body punching can see him breaking him down around the 8th , I think he’ll take smiths power too.

[Betro09]

Canelo wins, not a walk through yet should be easy one, late KO.

[AngryGoon38]

Canelo’s going to keep swinging the axe to the trunk in order chop down that weight drained tree down!

It’ll be like the Rocky Fielding fight, but it’ll take longer for the Mexican to force the stoppage.

Callum may initially do a Kovalev, by winning some of the early rounds, due to being the busier fighter, but Canelo will own the narrative of the fight, and there’ll be a sense of inevitability about the outcome, as the Brit begins to fade from round five onwards.

This is basically my approximation based forecast/prediction as well.
Canelo will Bull his way inside,land debilitating body blows,Smith will get softened up from this,and then he'll get
weak and slow,and his arms will tire,and then Canelo will either land that overhand right,or just keep on keeping
on with the body blows,and Smith will eventually sooner than later Fold,probably while backed into the corner of the ropes. Thats what i see. Somewhere between rounds 4 and 6 i'd say,maybe 7 if Canelo's having a bit of an off night.

[brilo33]

great fight this smith is legit super middleweight champ, smith can win this he has good right hand and jab and doubles up a one 2 , if smiths boxes and uses his range he can win this fight he can hurt canelo. though i see canelo closing the distance and putting it on smith and drawing him in to a fight body punches i think will hurt smith , i think close fight saul on points because he was the front foot fighter , but i think the best callum beats him

[brilo33]

Just watched SMith - Ryder again. Man Smith not only lost that fight but he was schooled. I can score it 118-110 for Ryder with no problem. But to be honest, Smith is very skilled, but fought totally wrong fight against Ryder.

i agree but i think smith is a better boxer than that fight and that is a good warm up fight for canelo. it shows he can not fight like that against saul, i think smith is a big match fighter

[Cent0089]

Just watched SMith - Ryder again. Man Smith not only lost that fight but he was schooled. I can score it 118-110 for Ryder with no problem. But to be honest, Smith is very skilled, but fought totally wrong fight against Ryder.

i agree but i think smith is a better boxer than that fight and that is a good warm up fight for canelo. it shows he can not fight like that against saul, i think smith is a big match fighter

Agree. Im pretty excited for this fight actually. Btw did you guys noticed there are 4 Alvarez boxing brothers and 4 Smith boxing prothers? Unique

[Cent0089]

Are there any info about undercard ?

[brilo33]

Just watched SMith - Ryder again. Man Smith not only lost that fight but he was schooled. I can score it 118-110 for Ryder with no problem. But to be honest, Smith is very skilled, but fought totally wrong fight against Ryder.

i agree but i think smith is a better boxer than that fight and that is a good warm up fight for canelo. it shows he can not fight like that against saul, i think smith is a big match fighter

Agree. Im pretty excited for this fight actually. Btw did you guys noticed there are 4 Alvarez boxing brothers and 4 Smith boxing prothers? Unique

very true i remember saul wanting to beat up cotto for his brother for cotto beat , i think the 4 smith brothers were better than the alvarezs brothers

[Ricky]

Close fight, i think Canelo to get the nod from the judges.