Callum smith wants a rematch at 175lbs against Canelo

Callum Smith says he’d like to get a rematch with Canelo Alvarez at 175 if the Mexican superstar moves up to his new weight class in the future.

Callum will be fighting former light heavyweight world title challenger Lenis Castillo on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk on September 25th at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in London.

This will be Callum’s first fight at 175, and he’s looking forward to seeing how he goes against a solid contender in Castillo (21-3, 1, 16 KOs). Castillo lost a 12 round unanimous decision to WBA 175-lb champion Dmitry Bivol two years ago in October 2019.

The former WBA super-middleweight champion Smith (27-1, 19 KOs) wasn’t at his best when he lost a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision to Canelo when they fought nine months ago last December at the Alamo dome in San Antonio, Texas.

That fight took place before Smith, 31, had hooked up with trainer Buddy McGirt, and he’s made a lot of changes to his fighting style, the 6’3″ Smith made mistakes against Canelo last time; he would never make if they were to fight now.

Also, Smith was sacrificing a lot of strength and power by draining down to 168 by that point in his career, he’d been at super middleweight for too long, and his body could no longer make the weight without him being weakened.

Now that Callum is fighting at 175, he’s stronger, and he now has a great trainer in McGirt who is helping him get better.

“I do believe I’m good enough to be a two-weight world champion,” said Callum Smith to Boxing Social.

“I think I can do it. “I’d love a rematch. He beat me and beat me well, no excuses, but I do believe we’ll see a better version of me at 175,” said Callum about his loss to Canelo Alvarez.

“That’s my only regret on the fight that we never saw the best version of me in with him. I didn’t perform on the night, and that’s that. That’s on me.

“If I were offered the fight at 175, I’d jump at it if I was a world champion. I’m not going to hold my breath on that one.

If Canelo moves up to 175, Callum will have a chance of fighting him again, as long as he picks up one of the belts. It’s fair to say that Smith absolutely needs a title at 175 to use as bait to lure Canelo into fighting him against.

Without a world title, Smith has nothing going to get Canelo to fight him in a rematch. Callum lost in such a decisive manner last December to Canelo that there would be no interest on his or the public’s part unless he had something the Mexican fighter wanted.

One reason why Canelo probably won’t stay at 168 after he beats IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant on November 6th is that he would be expected to fight David Benavidez.

 

By William Lloyd