One retired boxing legend believes he is one of the best fighters to have ever competed at super-middleweight and could still beat reigning champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
Confidence is something any boxer needs to be able to make it to the top and is something that current generational great Canelo has never lacked. He turned pro aged 15 and since then, more than 60 fights later, he has lost just twice – once to Floyd Mayweather, and once to Dmitry Bivol up at light heavyweight.
A retired legend however thinks Canelo is not on his level.
Hall of Fame inductee James Toney held the lineal middleweight title, the super middleweight title in the nineties and was cruiserweight champion in 2003 before twice challenging for heavyweight belts. He had a tight defensive style, elusive shoulder roll and exceptional counterpunching.
The 55-year-old told MillCity Boxing there is no comparison to be made between him and Canelo and is open to coming out of retirement to ‘destroy’ the Mexican fighter.
“We put too much emphasis on Canelo. If you look at it, he’s fought all these guys who are lighter than him, or they are past their prime and all of that, you can’t compare this mother****er to me, dog.
I fought the best fighters in their prime. I don’t even want to talk about the mother****er, because he p***es me off.
I could always come out of retirement and whoop his a** right now, I’d f**k him up, for real, I haven’t got a problem doing that!
I’d beat Canelo right now. He can be knocked out, he’s not all that. He’s no James Toney. He’s not in my league, he can’t carry my bags. Stop comparing him to me because there is no match, I would destroy him.”
Canelo is the current undisputed super-middleweight champion, and has been since 2020 when he handed Brit Callum Smith a 12-round points loss to collect the WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine titles.
