SAUL ‘CANELO’ ALVAREZ has revealed he is willing to fight UFC’s Jorge Masvidal in a blockbuster boxing match.
The Mexican, 29, was famously called out for the mega showdown by Gamebred after the MMA star defeated Nate Diaz.
Canelo Alvarez has accepted Jorge Masvidal’s call for an MMA-boxing crossover bout
Despite the four-weight world titleholder initially rebuffing talk of an MMA-boxing crossover, he since told TMZ: “For business, why not? We’ll see.”
UFC superstar Conor McGregor swapped the cage for the ring in 2017 in a money-spinning bout with fellow maverick Floyd Mayweather.
Canelo last fought on the same night as Masvidal as he became the WBO light heavyweight champion by knocking out Sergey Kovalev.
The newly crowned Fighter of the Year vacated the strap just six weeks later to fuel speculation that he will return to super-middleweight for his next fight.
Billy Joe Saunders has already been listed as one potential opponent, while Callum Smith is also in contention after his controversial points win over John Ryder last month.
Masvidal meanwhile claimed the “Baddest Motherf*****” belt with a technical knockout via doctor stoppage win over Diaz.
For business, why not? We’ll see
Canelo Alvarez on a boxing bout with Jorge Masvidal
And the Miami fan-favourite, who trained in boxing before his MMA career, wasted little time in claiming that he could beat Canelo in the latter’s domain.
He told ESPN: “I consider myself 10 times the athlete [Canelo] is just because of MMA in general.
“All the strength, speed and power you have to generate – to throw one kick is like throwing ten right hands.
“The energy it takes to wrestle and pick somebody up in the air… boxing’s just your weight, nobody cares. If I could shift those energy blocks and bring them down to boxing where I’m throwing 80 or 90 punches a round, I feel I could hurt this dude.
“I definitely agree that if [Alvarez] was to go to MMA, it wouldn’t be a challenge because I’ve thrown 10,000 left high-kicks in a month and he’s never done one.
“It’s kind of the same thing to boxing, where if I’ve thrown a million jabs, then he’s thrown 10 million because that’s all his focus.
“That being said, there’s still an element that I could put his ass to sleep… maybe I don’t hit harder, but I’m definitely bigger. I could definitely make a statement and even it out for MMA, my sport. “There [are] still things in boxing that are a part of boxing.
“I just feel I could beat him up in some areas. Does he have a better jab and left hook than me? Yeah, of course.
“But there’s still elements where I could make it awkward for him, just like Conor did to Mayweather. Those are the mountains I like to scale. If I’m going into boxing, I want the best guy they got.”
Canelo Alvarez shows off his incredible body transformation in boxing workout
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
