Eddie Hearn Had Talks For Canelo Alvarez Vs. Badou Jack At Cruiserweight

By Sean Jones: Eddie Hearn says he spoke with Prince Khalid about putting together a fight for Saudi Arabia between newly crowned WBC cruiserweight champion Badou Jack and Canelo Alvarez.

Hearn says that Canelo’s manager/trainer Eddy Reynoso isn’t “rushing” for the fight against Badou (28-3-3, 17 KOs), who will turn 40 years old in October. Still, Hearn thinks that it’s a possibility for the Mexican star, saying, “It might have legs.”

Badou is not someone that fans want to see Canelo fight, and it would be a wrong career move for him if he were to face this guy next. The guy fans in the U.S. want to see Canelo face is David Benavidez, NOT Badou Jack, John Ryder, Billy Joe Saunder, Rocky Fielding, 41-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin, or Daniel Jacobs.

With DAZN paying Canelo tons of money for his fights, they probably wouldn’t be too excited at seeing him fight Badou because it wouldn’t bring in a lot of PPV buys.

Canelo’s last PPV fight on DAZN against John Ryder is rumored to have pulled in poor numbers. Fighting Badou could be far worse for Canelo, with just a few boxing fans purchasing it on DAZN.

The backlash that Canelo would receive if he faced Badou in September would be out of this world. Despite having captured world titles in three divisions, Badou is NOT a big name, and he’s seen as a fighter on the downside of his career.

Yeah, Badou recently dethroned WBC cruiserweight champion Illunga Makabu last February by knocking him out in the twelfth round, but that guy was arguably the weakest link among the champions in that weight class.

If Jack had fought one of the talented cruiserweight champions, he likely would have been beaten, as we saw in his loss to Marcus Browne.

“Yes, I spoke to Prince Khalid about that. I like the fight because I think Badou Jack was a super middleweight. Yeah, we’ll see. I don’t think Eddy Reynoso is rushing around that fight, but it might have some legs,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing King Media about his interest in making a fight between Canelo Alvarez and WBC cruiserweight champion Badou Jack.

Interestingly, Hearn is keen on matching Canelo against Badou Jack instead of pushing him to face David Benavidez or David Morrell Jr, two killers from the 168-lb division and viewed as fighters that are his main competition.

Canelo recently fought 41-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin, and his last opponent, John Ryder, was 35. Is this what it has come to for Canelo with him selecting a certain age group?

Canelo would only take this fight to pick up another paper title to add to his collection of division titles won off of weak champions. If Canelo wanted to win a cruiserweight title from a champion that fans would be appreciative of, he would need to fight one of these guys:

• Chris Billam-Smith – WBO
• Arsen Goulamirian – WBA
• Jai Opetaia – IBF