Mauricio Sulaimán, president of the World Boxing Council, spoke to Marca English about the future of Canelo Alvarez and the defense of the WBC super middleweight belt.
Sulaimán Saldívar did not demerit what Canelo has done throughout his career, one defeat does not make the Mexican have lost the throne of the best boxer in the world.
“Canelo is the best pound-for-pound, it’s not a title you win and lose, those pound-for-pound titles are very popular it lends itself to debate, for me boxing won. If Canelo reverses this issue (the loss) he will continue to build greatness.”
Regarding Alvarez’s future, Saldivar commented that losing to Bivol can bring good things to Canelo, just as he learned from falling against Mayweather Jr. now he can learn from his mistakes and grow more as a fighter.
“Right now there is going to be a lot of speculation, there is going to be a lot of back and forth, for a month to see what happens, I feel that on Saturday we saw how big boxing is, in boxing anything can happen, there are good nights, bad nights; Chavez went up for the welterweight with Whitaker, Mantequilla the middle with Monzon, so there are many examples, weight, stature, physical situation and this time Bivol was superior and won the fight.
All defeats are a process of life, it depends on how you take them, Canelo against Mayweather lost and took that one as the ultimate life learning and turned his career around and went far, it is an opportunity to retake and become great again.
The WBC gives all the unconditional support to Canelo, because he has always been consistent in seeking challenges. For Mexico it is a sad defeat, a Mexican who represents world boxing. I tell Canelo: all the greats have lost Muhammad Ali, Leonard, Chavez, Duran, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
The WBC will not require Canelo to defend his super middleweight title.
“I’m not going to speculate on Canelo’s mandatory belt defense, he barely fought, we were very clear at the convention, that’s why we mandated an interim title; Benavidez fights Lemiux for the interim super middleweight title, let’s see what happens there.
We are going to wait for Canelo’s decision, we are not going to speculate anything. We are going to give Canelo respect, he is someone with 23 world title fights, he has all the accomplishments. I feel he’s going to rest for a while, we’ll see what his plans are, we’ll see what comes next,” he concluded.
Marca
