Canelo Alvarez Ready to Fight Gennady Golovkin at 155 Pounds, Says Eddy Reynoso

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez's trainer, Eddy Reynoso, remains adamant the WBC middleweight champion will only fight Gennady Golovkin at a catchweight of 155 pounds, a major stumbling block as the two camps try to come to an agreement regarding the highly anticipated unification bout.

Per Radio Rahim of BoxingScene.com, Golovkin has already ruled out fighting Alvarez at a catchweight, but Reynoso made it very clear the 25-year-old has no intention of fighting at 160 pounds.

As reported by BoxingScene.com's Ryan Burton, he said: "We are ready to fight anyone at 155 pounds.  We are very comfortable at this weight. If he wants to come to this weight we will fight anybody.”

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Canelo won the WBC middleweight title belt by beating Miguel Cotto by unanimous decision on Saturday and immediately stated he's “ready” to fight the dangerous Golovkin, who is widely regarded as the top fighter in the division, via ESPN's Dan Rafael.

The Kazakh responded to the challenge on Twitter:

Per Burton, the WBC has already clarified GGG is the mandatory challenger for Alvarez, and a decision will have to be made fast, or Canelo could be stripped of his title. The 155-pound catchweight is the absolute minimum for a middleweight title bout, but Golovkin can refuse to fight at the proposed weight.

Alvarez has yet to fight above 155 pounds, while Golvokin has never dropped that far in his career, per BoxRec. He did tell reporters he was willing to drop to 154 pounds to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao before the two met earlier this year, however, per Luis Sandoval of fighthype.com.

The Kazakh mauler is a natural middleweight, displaying awesome power and solid technique for a fighter of his size. He raised his sensational knockout streak to 21 with a win over David Lemieux in October, once again highlighting his power is his greatest asset, per the New York Times' Joe Depaolo. 

Nobody knows whether that power would carry over to a lower weight, and it's easy to see why Golovkin is reluctant to fight at a catchweight if he doesn't have to.

FightNights.com believes it shouldn't be an option:

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Snowden also isn't in favour of a title fight at the proposed catchweight:

"

Looking at both fighters, and the numbers, Canelo is probably actually bigger than GGG. That's a bad excuse if they make it.

— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) November 22, 2015"

But Alvarez and his trainer don't see the 25-year-old as a natural middleweight, and it makes sense for them to hold onto the 155-pound limit for now. The Mexican star has found plenty of success at the weight, and following his win over Cotto, he's in a prime position to become the sport's biggest star.

It would be a major risk to jeopardise that status by moving up in weight to face a fighter as dangerous as Golovkin. Alvarez has no experience at the 160-pound weight; imagine debuting at the weight and seeing this across from you in the ring:

Fans are undoubtedly anxious to see these two go head-to-head, as their attractive fighting styles would match well in the ring.

Golovkin could agree to the catchweight, knowing he'll gain plenty of weight and strength as he rehydrates and should be close to his natural weight by the time the bell sounds, but he's not obligated to do so.

It seems like the only option, however, as Alvarez is more likely to give up his belt than move up and face GGG at 160 pounds.

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