Canelo Alvarez’s recent performance last Saturday night against William Scull showed fans that he no longer belongs at the #1 spot in the 168-pound rankings. He’s too faded now to be rightfully kept at the top spot, even though he technically holds the undisputed super middleweight championship. Alvarez, 34, fights against Terence Crawford on September 12th, and many people believe he’ll lose badly.
Once a Predator…
Ability-wise, Canelo is a broken shell of the fighter he once was, holding himself together with Super Glue by using his A-side mega-bucks popularity to hand-pick his opposition. Canelo has held his career together by picking and choosing his opposition for years.
Based on Canelo’s last four performances, it’s impossible to keep him at the #1 spot just because of his wins over the weak opposition he’s been facing. Fans perceive that Alvarez has artificially preserved his #1 spot by ducking and dodging the predatory killers at 168 for the last four years. If he had faced the true best, he’d have already been weeded out and replaced a long time ago.
Ring Magazine’s 168-lb rankings
- Canelo Alvarez
- Christian Mbilli
- Diego Pacheco
- Osleys Iglesias
- Caleb Plant
- Jaime Munguia
- William Scull
- Vladimir Shishkin
- Bruno Surace
- Edgar Berlanga
That list needs a whole lot of restructuring because it doesn’t represent reality. Canelo is not #1 in terms of how he’s fighting now. He still belongs in the top five, but nowhere near the #1 or #2 spot.
Time to Demote
His ducking of Mbilli is reason enough to demote him from the top spot. Kicking Canelo off the entire list makes sense because he’s not fighting the best. In any sport, if a team refuses to compete against the other top teams, they would be booted. NFL, NBA, and NHL teams can’t refuse to play other teams that they’re afraid of losing to.
Also, his decision not to fight David Benavidez and David Morrell when those two killers were still campaigning at 168. When the #1 ranked super middleweight chooses not to fight the top sharks in the division, that’s an automatic loss in my book.
Reshaping the Top 10
- Christian Mbilli
- Osleys Iglesias
- Diego Pacheco
- Canelo Alvarez
- Edgar Berlanga
- Caleb Plant
- Jaime Munguia
- Bruno Surace
- Kevin Sadjo
- Bektemir Melikuziev
Last Updated on 05/10/2025
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