EDDIE HEARN says Canelo Alvarez isn’t being unreasonable asking Badou Jack drop 20lbs for a fight at cruiserweight.
Last week it emerged that the Mexican was in negotiations to face the WBC titlist in Saudi Arabia later this year.
Jack’s representatives Skill Challenge Entertainment said talks were “going very well” but did admit there were “one or two sticking points”. No details of the obstacles were revealed but a few days later Jack made it known on Twitter that the fight would not be happening.
“I won’t be fighting Canelo next,” he said.
“They said the weight difference is too much, they wanted to drain the old man and fight me 20lbs under the cruiserweight limit. Plus, a rehydration clause.
“Canelo let’s give the fans what they want to see and fight David Benavidez.”
A couple of days later Jack posted: “For the record I agreed to 190lbs catch weight for my 200lbs title.”
Speaking on The DAZN Boxing Show Canelo’s on/off promoter Eddie Hearn said he believes top middleweight Jermall Charlo, who has not fought in two years, is the “front-runner” to face Canelo next.
Hearn and Matchroom would unlikely be involved with that fight given the fact Charlo is a Premier Boxing Champions athlete whose fights are broadcast on Showtime.
Jack, who turns 40 on October 31, weighed in at 199 ¾ lbs for his last fight against Ilunga Makabu. It was the fourth fight at cruiserweight for Jack and the final round stoppage resulted in him winning the WBC strap. The Swedish-born fighter has also won honours at super-middleweight and light-heavyweight.
Hearn was asked by The DAZN Boxing Show about Jack’s tweet regarding Canelo’s request.
“I wasn’t involved in those discussions but at the end of the day Canelo is a 168lb fighter so if he’s asked for 180lbs I don’t think that’s overly unreasonable.
“You can’t criticize Canelo for asking a cruiserweight who used to box at super-middleweight to come down in weight five pounds over the light-heavyweight [limit]. You can’t just expect Saul to go yeah, I’ll fight you at 200lbs. He couldn’t even weigh more than 180lbs if he tried so he would be giving up 20lbs, probably 30lbs. It’s dangerous.
“He’s willing to step up to 175 to fight guys like [Dmitry] Bivol and [Sergey] Kovalev etc but you can’t be stepping up to 200 or 190. That shouldn’t be allowed.”
