Canelo Alvarez has never been far from controversy in the ring — especially post-fight. However, on one such occasion, his integrity was called into severe question.
Attempting to make boxing history and join a short list of boxing icons to join a specific class, Canelo Alvarez had steamrolled through middleweight competition and challengers en route to a whole different charge.
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And fresh off an IBF middleweight title win over Daniel Jacobs, which followed high-profile fights with Gennady Golovkin, as well as Amir Khan and bitter rival Erislandy Lara, Canelo sought pastures new.
But making a move to the light heavyweight limit brought with it some notable post-fight flak for the Mexican star.
Canelo Alvarez ripped Sergey Kovalev as a ‘bad loser’ after emphatic win
Stamping his name in the history books once more, Jalisco native Canelo Alvarez skipped the super middleweight division — which he currently runs ragged — to compete for light heavyweight gold in 2019.
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And booked against Russian star Sergey Kovalev in a WBO light heavyweight title pursuit, Canelo joined the likes of Thomas Hearns and his fellow Four Kings member Sugar Ray Leonard as a light middleweight champion to win spoils at 168lbs.
Finishing the towering Russian in the penultimate round, Canelo sprang with a hellacious left hook and then a right hand behind it, snapping Kovalev’s neck and sending him unconscious to the ropes.
And despite his empathic win, Kovalev boldly claimed he was never “supposed” to beat Canelo, who in turn labelled him a “bad loser” post-fight.
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“It was impossible for me to win that fight [with Canelo] because of all the demands and contract clauses I have signed, and my physical conditioning problems,” Kovalev said in 2019. “But financially it was very interesting for me… so, yeah, I accepted the fight I was not supposed to win.”
Canelo Alvarez sent James Kirkland for CT scan after brutal win
Involved in some of the most eye-catching knockouts of the 2010s, Canelo enjoyed the majority of those successes in big fights at the middleweight limit.
And before capturing gold once more against Miguel Cotto, Canelo was pitted against Texan star James Kirkland who himself had made a name as a sizable power puncher at the weight limit.
However, felled and slumped with a massive shot at the ropes from Canelo in their 2015 showdown, Kirkland ate an overhand right from the Mexican flush on his chin — and was sent for a CT scan following the horrifying victory.