The WBA is such a terrible organization that it has two boxers, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. holding the same title, the WBA Light Middleweight title. But as we know championships don’t matter, only money and PPV numbers do, there’s a very good chance we won’t get to see who is the “real” champion of yet another title belt is.
Saul Alvarez didn’t dominate against Austin Trout. Some think that it shouldn’t have been such a clear decision on his behalf, winning on the scorecards of all three judges, on his way to retaining his WBC Belt while adding the Ring belt (a magazine that belongs to his promoter) and the WBA belt Trout put on the line before the fight. Now looking like the obvious force in the division, this surely means he’ll get to fight Floyd Mayweather in September, right?
Don’t count on it, not so soon. Mayweather doesn’t take on fights he doesn’t know how to win, and he still has to worry about beating Robert Guerreo in their May 4, Welterweight title fight. I don’t think a lot of people doubt that Mayweather is going to beat Guerreo, unless his 12 months out of the ring have deteriorated his boxing abilities, but I think most people doubt he’ll make it easy for Alvarez to get a contract signed with him.
Because it’s not only the Manny Pacquiao saga that comes to mind, which took years to go through, eventually ending because Pacquiao lost to Juan Manuel Marquez the fourth time around, costing him his place among the best boxers in the world, and possibly causing him to decide and not fight in the United States ever again, although that also has to do with taxes, and money, the lifeblood of the sport.
Mayweather didn’t want to fight Shane Mosley until Sugar was too old to pose a threat, and was out of breath and power after the first few rounds. With Alvarez, only 22, looking to be the read deal at Light Middleweight, don’t be surprised if Mayweather will now start delaying the biggest fight everyone wants to see, just because he can, using the usual excuses.
When Mayweather got out of prison and the rumors around his next fight started flying, Pacquiao was the first name on the list. People thought that maybe jail time has hurt Mayweather’s leverage in the never ending negotiation dance between the two, but it didn’t really matter once Marquez knocked Pacquiao out. Guerrero for May, Alvarez for September were the names that were brought up. Half of what was promised has been fulfilled. Once he’s done with Guerrero, who is there really for him left to fight? At least he knows Canelo brings him the biggest payday of what’s out there.
Still, the one thing that’s always interesting find out about Mayweather – as much as he cares about his payday and making money, he loves that 0 near his loss column a lot more.