WBO junior middleweight titlist Liam Smith claims that he’s been offered a fight with Canelo Alvarez although he’s fully focused on this Saturday’s fight with Predrag Radosevic.
WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith is geared up for this Saturday’s title defense where he’ll take on Predrag Radosevic in Liverpool. Smith hopes to put on a show in front of his hometown fans in this fight although he expects a somewhat rough and tumble affair from Radosevic — something that the oddsmakers apparently don’t with Radosevic being installed as a heavy 14-1 underdog. Here’s what Smith had to say on the topic to RingTV.com.
“I think odds in boxing are terrible and it shouldn’t be like that,” fired the 27-year-old Englishman. “It is what it is, though. People see a foreign name and presume you’re in for a walkover when it’s not. That’s boxing for you.”
Smith then goes on to reveal that he’s received an offer to face Canelo Alvarez, a fight that would have him put his belt on the line against the popular Mexican fighter who recently conceded his WBC middleweight title to Gennady Golovkin.
“I’ve been offered the Canelo fight but I haven’t been told too much about it,” he said. “It would be for my title because he has given up his (WBC) belt at 160 and would be moving back down to 154 pounds.
“My team is keeping things quiet right now because it’s important that my mind is on the job that’s in front of me. I don’t like talking about future fights and we’re just being professional.”
Obviously Smith being offered a Canelo Alvarez fight is even more evidence that the much anticipated fight between Canelo and Gennady Golovkin is no closer to being realized, and that it pretty clearly won’t be happening next at the very least.
Smith also mentions the likes of Miguel Cotto as a possible fight for him when pressed about the options out there for him. Smith does admit, though, that he hasn’t received an official offer from Cotto nor an order from the WBO ordering the bout. He does, however, expect the WBO to order him to make a mandatory title defense in the near future.