Finally caught it. I think it's getting a bit carried away that Bud has been elevated to #1 P4P after that.
Don't get me wrong, there's a clear top 5 and he's in there with Usyk, Inoue, Bivol and Beterbiev, and it's a good win. But I don't think it was that dominant of a win, and I honestly have never thought Canelo was *that* good and now he's showing clear signs of wear & tear (almost 70 fights at 35 is a lot). In fact I think he's the most overrated boxer of the last 30 years, has been skillfully maneuvered around weights to avoid certain fights that might limit how much of a cash cow he is (eg - he ducked Benavidez, who's the wrong mix of "would probably beat him, easily" and "would hurt future earnings" - losses to Bivol and Bud don't do that to him).
Canelo reminds me a little bit of Tyson on the back end of his prime now where he didn't really throw in combinations and was just looking to throw a big power shot. Obviously a bit more of an orthodox stylist/counter-puncher than Tyson, but his activity just isn't very high. Maybe he's gotten very very comfortable with knowing the judges are just going to award him four rounds? He might deadset have 8-10 losses if he didn't get handed ridiculous decisions. He's a great fighter obviously, but for me he's not an all time great - he's a guy on the bubble of that. Every time he's gone up against a genuinely top, top, top fighter, it's been clear he just isn't on that level. Like he has genuinely never had a legitimate win over a fighter of that calibre. Ever.
I thought Bud neutralised him, clearly flustered him and won most exchanges, but it wasn't this *massively* dominant win IMO. He won about as clearly as GGG did the first time I reckon, and GGG beat a better Canelo, just got worse judging (their trilogy should have been 2-0 to GGG with one draw, instead it was scored the exact opposite way). Obviously it's a big jump up in weight for Bud, but he doesn't look like it's an unusual weight for him, and he had a height and reach advantage. I scored it 116-112, which is about what I scored GGG Alvarez 1 I think. Clear win but not a demolition.
Floyd beat Canelo 120-108 to anyone who's not totally blind/biased/bribed and 23 year old Canelo was a much better fighter, I think the narrative that Canelo "wasn't ready" is nonsense. He peaked young. And Floyd made him look like an amateur. I think Floyd is a despicable person but his win over Canelo is about as badly as an elite boxer has been outclassed without a KO.
For me the current #1 has to be Usyk still, what he's done as a natural cruiserweight beating guys who are so much bigger than him - and I think Tyson Fury is a better boxer than Canelo on top of that - in this hugely dominant fashion where he's always the one pressuring, he's taking risks, and he's dominating, no one else atm has achieved anything like that, is just in a different ball park to Crawford putting on a bit of weight and just sort of game managing his way to a very good but very one-paced fighter like Alvarez. Eye test tells me Bud and Inoue are the two next best, but you have to judge P4P by accomplishments IMO, and the real accomplishment against Canelo is making sure you get reasonable judges.
Am I crazy?
. Good too see him back in the ring in Aus.
