Canelo Álvarez had been rumored to face Badou Jack in Saudi Arabia. One of Jack’s trusted advisors, who is the director of boxing operations of Skills Challenge Promotions, Amer Abdallah, recently caught up with ProBox TV News to shed more light on this situation.
Abdullah explained where the differences are with Canelo’s team, and if that fight doesn’t happen what would be next for the WBC cruiserweight world champion of the world, Badou Jack.
“We are in discussions with the camp, and I don’t believe those kind of negotiations should be made public,” stated Abdallah to ProBox TV News before getting to the good stuff. “Canelo Álvarez and Eddy Reynoso know their value and know their place in boxing. They know what weight they are comfortable in and the same with Badou.”
This comes on the heels of Badou Jack tweeting out the following.
“I won’t be fighting Canelo next,” tweeted Badou Jack. “They said the weight difference is too much, they wanted to drain the old man and fight me 20lbs UNDER the cruiserweight limit for the title Plus a rehydration clause. Canelo let’s give the fans what they want to see and fight David Benavidez”
Badou Jack, who is a three-division world champion, who is currently signed to Skills Challenge Promotions, recently won the WBC cruiserweight title when he stopped Ilunga Junior Makabu in the twelfth round and final round of their championship bout in February of this year, in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. Abdullah refused to go into details about the talks between the two camps citing weight issues being a point of contention.
Abdullah furthered the stance by simply explaining that a catchweight should not be applied to a cruiserweight title fight or at least one that dramatically changes the division as a whole from the weight class limit set by the governing bodies. As it seems if Canelo doesn’t fight Badou Jack next it will solely not happen based on a difference of opinions on the weight it would be contested at.
“If you [are] fighting for a cruiserweight [world title] you should probably fight around the cruiserweight limit,” said Abdallah. “There are weight classes for a reason, and if the fight can be made I think it would be great. I think it would be a fun fight, very entertaining. Badou defending [his world title] against a living legend, and Canelo going for a legendary five-division world title [run], overstepping light heavyweight and going right to cruiser. So, there is a lot to be said about that.”
