Canelo Alvarez-Liam Smith fight breakdown
By Sevak Sarkisian
As most fight fans already know, Boxing super star and former
two division WBC world title holder Saul “ Canelo” Alvarez (47-1- 1 33KO’s) will be
taking on current reigning WBO super welterweight world titlist Liam “Beefy”
Smith (23-0- 1 13KO’s) on Saturday September 17 th from the AT&T Stadium in
Arlington Texas. The fight will be televised live on HBO PPV with Gabe Rosado
and Willie Monroe Jr. serving as the co-future.
In today’s boxing current landscape, the biggest fight to be made in regards to fan
interest is Canelo Alvarez versus Gennady Golovkin (current world middleweight
champion). Many fans are uninterested and are not giving this upcoming title
fight with Liam Smith a fair shake because of that fact. However, in my humble
opinion if we were to analyze this upcoming fight with Liam Smith in an objective
and fair manner, we would be able to conclude that it’s a quality match-up in the
super welterweight division in regards to importance and entertainment value.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez over the past few years has been fighting high level
opposition on a consistent basis. From 2013 to 2015 Canelo has faced Austin
Trout, Floyd Mayweather, Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara, James Kirkland, and
Miguel Cotton. (in that very order) That is a very impressive list of opponents to
say the least, especially in today’s era of boxing. Canelo did take in what many
fans viewed as an easy fight for him against Amir Khan in his last fight (in which he
deserved) in my opinion. However, Canelo ended up making a crucial PR mistake
after knocking out Amir Khan by seemingly calling out and welcoming a fight with
his then mandatory challenger Gennady Golovkin but then ending up vacating the
belt and dropping back down to super welterweight. That move did not sit well
with many fans, and rightly so, but it’s a shame for fans to overlook this upcoming
fight with Liam Smith because of that reason because the actual match-up is a
legitimate one unlike the last one with Amir Khan.
Canelo stands at about 5’9 in height and possesses a 70 ½ inch reach. He has
good hand speed and head move meant and is physically extremely strong and
sturdy. He also possesses above average punching power for the super
welterweight division. Canelo stylistically does well when his opponents either
come straight at him or stand right in front of him. He throws great combinations
and has good punch selection. Saul Alvarez is also very good at trading with
opponents, punching, slipping and countering from midrange. However, when an
opponent decides to work off of the jab and use the ring and move around a little
bit, Canelo seems to have some trouble cutting off the ring. He seems to have
“heavy feet” despite having quick hands and good upper body movement. Canelo
at this moment in his career is known to have a tuff time getting down to the 154
pound super welterweight limit and it will be his first time making 154lbs since
fighting Austin Trout.
Liam Smith on the other hand holds the WBO super welterweight title and he
fights out of the U.K. He comes from a boxing family with many of his siblings also
being professional boxers. He stands at about 5’10 in height and is in his physical
prime at 28 years of age. Stylistically I find him to be very similar to Canelo
Alvarez in the sense that he prefers for his opponents to either come straight to
him or stay in front of him and bang it out. However, I don’t consider him to be as
skilled as Alvarez specifically in slipping and countering punches while trading
with opponents. He also doesn’t have the same hand speed and crispness to his
punches like Alvarez does. Liam Smith does possess a good strong jab which
should be one of his greatest weapons in this fight and he his physically bigger
then Alvarez, which is something Alvarez isn’t used to.
This fight guarantees excitement because of the stylistic match up and physical
and mental attributes of both fighters. Like most other fight fans around the
world, I can’t wait for Saul Alvarez to face and take on GGG in the future. But I
will not let my excitement for that potential match-up get in the way of what
coming our way on September 17 th !