Callum Smith suffered the first defeat of his boxing career in a lopsided performance against Canelo Alvarez. The 30-year-old took quite a beating from the Mexican Brawler on Saturday and the British explained one of the reasons why it turned out that way.
Smith revealed that Alvarez targeted his left arm throughout the match, taking away one of his dangerous punches, a catch left hook. The Brit already had an idea of Alvarez’s game plan as early as the first round.
At that point, Smith was already telling his head trainer Joe Gallagher that Alvarez was targeting his left arm with right hooks when he spoke to Boxing Social.
"It was intentional. I knew from the first round that. I said to Joe in round one, 'He's aiming for my arm.' Every right hook he was throwing, he was going for my arm. And then I think I said to Joe in round four or something, 'My arm is f--ked,'" Smith said.
That ploy worked for Alvarez. It took away Smith’s catch left hook, something the Brit admitted was his best shot. In the end, Smith’s bicep/tricep area on his left arm was severely swollen. He is set to undergo surgery on the arm.
Smith is clueless if this was part of Canelo’s game plan. Regardless, it only proves that the Mexican and his team studied him very well and it paid off. He is not taking that away from Alvarez and maintains that it is not an excuse for his disappointing performance.
"It's not an excuse. If I would've had two hands the whole fight, would I have won the fight? Probably not. He was just a little bit too good for me on the night," Smith said.
With Smith set to undergo surgery for his arm, he is likely to be out for some time until he is ready to brawl once more. The same cannot be said for the Mexican Brawler.
After capturing the WBC, WBA super-middleweight titles, there are suggestions of a possible third fight with Gennady Golovkin. Incidentally, GGG was also in action the night before and also came out with an impressive showing against Kamil Szeremeta. The Kazakhstan pug won via TKO in the 7th round.
Alvarez is open to facing Golovkin but may need to face mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim first for the WBC title. This is unless the Mexican has plans of vacating the title. Considering Alvarez wants all titles in the 168-pound class, seeing that happen is unlikely.
