Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez continues to be the man people love to hate or so it would seem, becoming even more evident since his lucrative contract signing. Some of It stems from his two encounters with Mr Golovkin, the first being a draw which certainly provoked whilst his encore enraged the boxing community further.
The question I ask, is that disdain warranted? I don’t believe so.
Firstly we asked that he challenge himself, a fair question, especially after a couple of shall we say overmatched encounters and the fact that he had become accustomed to fighting at a catchweight, because of this we (fight fans) demanded that he fought a genuine Middleweight if he was to lay claim to being its best, he listened, doing so, not once but twice against the divisions king, drawing the first whilst handing a first career loss to Gennady Golovkin in the second bout.
So surely it can’t be because of this, maybe it was because of the way he fought? Nope, that can’t really be criticised either, In the first fight I concede he fought for large portions of the bout off the back foot much to the distaste of onlookers but upon the many goading attempts from Golovkin’s team to show his Mexican pride to stand and fight, he did so, even pushing back the now former Middleweight ruler, proving he has the heart for battle.
I’m literally left scratching my head on this subject, I’ll throw in the fact that he did test positive for Clenbuterol which he claims was ingested through Meat he consumed, It was an excuse that wasn’t as easy to swallow for the general public.
In his defence, I know this is a reach for some but he could actually be telling the truth, The drug is regularly given to animals in China and Mexico to increase lean muscle mass and improve the overall livestock production.
Fighters and athletes have used this in their defence successfully in the past. Francisco Vargas was cleared in 2016 when he tested positive for clenbuterol ahead of a fight. In 2011 five players on the Mexico national team were flagged for clenbuterol at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, but were subsequently found not-guilty of doping charges.
VADA even confirmed the traces found in Alvarez’s system were consistent with the levels expected in meat contamination cases.
I’m fully open to debate on the subject, but before people label me as being biased to Canelo’s plight, I’d first take note that I did in fact have Golovkin winning both the bouts, marginally on the second, I would also accept on my part that I was one of the people who jumped the gun in calling for a longer ban for Canelo without doing the research beforehand.
I’m writing this to ask the question, why one of boxing’s most exciting talents who ducks no challenge and remains defiant in his case to clear his name is so hard to support?
Over to you guys?
TOPCLASSBOXING 
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