Santa Claus Arrives Early with Canelo vs. Callum on Dec. 19

A week ago, it appeared that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez had settled upon IBF 168-pound champion Caleb Plant as his next opponent. But Callum Smith, who apparently was never out of the running, had the strongest finishing kick in a very short field and beat Plant to the wire. Canelo made it official yesterday, Nov. 17, when he announced on his Instagram page that he and Smith would lock horns on Dec. 19 on DAZN. At stake will be the WBA world super middleweight title that Alvarez and Smith currently share (don’t ask).

Various sources say the fight will be held in the United States, but the venue remains undecided. The best guess is somewhere in Texas and it would seem that AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys, would be the top choice.

Covid-19 protocols are relatively lax at AT&T Stadium compared with other sporting venues in the United States. Currently, social distancing is practiced between “pods” rather than individuals, with a pod defined as family and friends who arrive as a group. The announced attendance for the Cowboys’ last home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 8 was 31,700, approximately one-third capacity. (With Covid-19 cases spiking in Texas, there’s pressure to tighten-up the restrictions on social gatherings, so things may get clamped down before Dec. 19.)

Canelo has fought three times in Texas, opposing Austin Trout in San Antonio before an announced crowd of 39,247, James Kirkland in Houston before an announced crowd of 31,588, and Liam Smith at AT&T Stadium before 51,240 (46,371 paid). The Lone Star State, with its large Hispanic population, has welcomed Alvarez with open arms.

Canelo Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) needs no introduction. He is boxing’s biggest draw. Callum Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) is the youngest and most talented of four fighting brothers, the most famous foursome from Liverpool, England, since a certain British band that you may have heard of.

Callum is 30 years old now, four months older than Alvarez, and theoretically at his pugilistic peak. He will be the second member of his family to battle Canelo. Liam Smith bit off more than he could chew when he took on Canelo in September of 2016. Canelo stopped him in the ninth round.

Callum Smith has fought twice on American soil. In August of 2014, he blasted out an unknown fighter from Mexico named Abraham Hernandez in the opening round at Carson, California, in a fight buried deep on the undercard of a show headlined by a welterweight title fight between Kell Brook and Shawn Porter. In June of 2019, at Madison Square Garden, he stopped Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in the third round on the show headlined by Joshua-Ruiz I.

Smith looked like a world-beater against N’Dam N’Jikam, but in his most recent fight against countryman John Ryder in Liverpool he looked like a common journeyman. Smith won comfortably on the scorecards (117-111, 116-112 twice), but the verdict was assailed as a hometown decision. The prominent boxing writer Scott Christ scored eight of the 12 rounds for Ryder and he wasn’t alone.

Smith likely won the Canelo sweepstakes with his drab effort that night as John Ryder seemingly gave Team Canelo the blueprint for how to defeat the Liverpudlian. At six-foot-three and with a 78-inch reach, Callum was the taller man by six inches and had a six-inch reach advantage, but Ryder, a big underdog, was able to worm his way inside and bully Callum around the ring.

Canelo Alvarez’s dimensions are virtually identical to that of John Ryder.

As to be expected, Callum Smith would tell you that he took Ryder too lightly and simply had an off-night. If you take him at his word, he will be a very live underdog on Dec. 19.

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