There has been a lot of talk recently about the contracted 152 lb catch-weight for next Saturday’s fight between Floyd Mayweather and Saul Alvarez. It seems there has been some debate on which side actually requested the catch-weight.
On last Saturday’s episode of All Access that aired on SHOWTIME®, Mayweather Promotions CEO and Mayweather confidant Leonard Ellerbe had this to say, “His management put out something on Boxingscene that they would be willing to fight at a catch-weight. Now because his management is inept we take advantage of those situations.”
Alvarez’ management team has denied these claims and has said that it was actually Mayweather’s team that had insisted on the catch-weight.
It was reported back on November of 2011 by a Mexican website record.com.mx that Alvarez told journalist Salvador Rodriguez after his fifth round knockout of Kermit Cintron, “It’s what I want, the Mayweather fight. We put it on the table. It was a year of great experience, and I feel more mature. I’m willing to go down to 150 pounds. De La Hoya said he was going to try to make the Mayweather fight. We’re ready for it.”
To be fair, those comments were made almost two years ago and did Alvarez really mean that he wanted to go down to 150 lbs or was he just expressing how badly he wanted the fight?
If I were to say that I could function off of three hours of sleep if I really had to, does that mean that’s what I want to do on regular basis or does it just mean that I could if I really had to? If I told my boss, ‘If Jimmy doesn’t show up tomorrow I can do his job and mine if you really need me too,’ does that mean that I would prefer to do it or that I could do it if the situation were to arise. Surely I wouldn’t be at my best in both situations.
Were Alvarez’ words being taken out of context and was it fair to use them against him during the negotiations for this fight?
Well, Floyd Mayweather does have the leverage and just as any person in his situation would do, he took advantage of it. You really can’t blame him or his team for that but to suggest that Alvarez really wanted the catch-weight just because of his comments made and taken out of context almost two years ago seems to be a bit of a stretch.
Whether or not losing those two extra pounds will have an effect on Alaverz’ performance next week remains to be seen, but if he loses and loses badly, don’t be surprised if it is mentioned as an excuse by many boxing fans, which in turn could take some of the luster away from a Mayweather victory.
