Former four division world champion Roy Jones Jr insists that he would not put Canelo Alvarez among the best two or three Mexican boxers of all time, and explains why he believes so.
Canelo came at a time when boxing needed a new face: Roy Jones Jr
Canelo Alvarez is the reigning undisputed champion at 168 and has remained the top pound for pound boxer for BoxRec. Many consider him the best fighter in the squared circle in the world today and a legend among Mexican fighters, if not one of the greatest to emerge from the country.
However, Roy Jones Jr doesn’t see Canelo as being in his top three Mexican boxers in history, and his top three list consists of Salvador Sánchez, Julio César Chávez Sr and Marco Antonio Barrera, Even though he acknowledges that Canelo became the new face of the sport.
“I’m going to put it like this: times have changed,” Roy Jones told Fight Hype in a recent interview. “And with the change of times, I would put Salvador as number one, and Julio as number two, and then the list goes on with fighters like Barrera and all of them. Canelo came at a time when boxing needed a new face.”
On explaining why he doesn’t consider Canelo among the top three, Jones differentiated his place in two areas: pound-for-pound boxing skills as well as and media skills.
“When it comes to pound-for-pound skills, maybe he could be among the best five Mexicans (in history)” Jones went on, “but that’s a tough place to be because (Mexico) has had some really great fighters. In terms of media skills, or social networking, he’s probably in the top three, but in terms of boxing skills, he could probably even be in the top six or seven.”
“The fact that Canelo lost to Floyd (Mayweather) shows that he did not arrive in the way that other greats (Mexicans) arrived,” Jones acknowledged. “Those greats arrived dominating, they did not arrive with a defeat. But still, (Canelo) has had a great career, he’s had some great fights in his time. He is definitely good, and he is up there on the list (of the best Mexicans in history), perhaps among the best five. That, for the time when he had to fight, and what he did”.
When asked how far fighters like Sánchez, Julio, or Barrera could be above Canelo, Jones responded by saying “Just a Little Above.”
“As I said, Canelo is good, and in the minds of some perhaps Canelo is better than those names. In my mind, I would probably give him a place in the top five, because he did a lot of things at a young age. But when those other names came, they came dominating. They didn’t come up losing to the best and then take over the scene. No, they came dominating. That’s why it’s hard to put him in the top five, above those types of fighters. And it is not a lack of respect for Canelo. Canelo is a great fighter,” added Jones.
