Suspicious Activity: Why Did Floyd and Canelo Both Avoid Rematch?

By Scoop Malinowski

In the Floyd Mayweather/Al Haymon business model, the Mayweather vs Canelo Alvarez rematch made sense and it still makes sense.

Mayweather loves easy fights, especially big money easy fights, and he has a history of handpicking rematches of easy wins. For instance, Mayweather handpicked a rematch with Marcos Maidana, he wants to handpick one with Conor McGregor and he tried to handpick a rematch with Ricky Hatton. Most people don’t know that but the information came out shortly before Hatton signed to fight Manny Pacquiao. I remember Hatton’s father said in an interview that Haymon was trying to lure Ricky into a rematch but he was too late. Hatton’s dad said there were already serious negotiations to make Hatton vs Pacquiao, which they did sign.

So we know Mayweather likes to set up lucrative rematches of easy wins and a rematch with Canelo would make a lot of sense, with the revenge and Mexican pride factors. But it never happened. And neither side ever expressed any desire to make it happen. Which is very strange. And suspicious. Very suspicious.

A prevailing theory is the first fight was an inside job. Mayweather and Haymon needed a big name draw because their previous Showtime contract fights were not generating expected revenues. Floyd, of course, did not want to fight Pacquiao so the only option was the undefeated, huge-selling Mexican attraction Canelo, who was generating enormous TV ratings and attendance figures. If you remember, Haymon had total control of Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy back then and it’s more than feasible that Schaefer was able to manipulate and hire Canelo to lose to Mayweather as a patsy. If you remember, De La Hoya did not even show up to Floyd vs Canelo fight week or the fight itself. It was said he went to rehab seven days before the fight. But any normal thinking person would wonder: Couldn’t Oscar wait one week to go to rehab? How could Oscar miss the biggest fight in Golden Boy Promotions and Mexican boxing history? It’s not illogical to assume Oscar knew Canelo was going to throw the fight to Floyd and he did not want to even be around such a corrupt, farce of a fight.

If you watched this boring fight you saw what looked like a half-intensity sparring session. And you saw Canelo’s corner show no passion and urgency through the fight and before the final round. It’s like they knew they were supposed to lose and that was that.

If Canelo was a real fighter he would have been embarrassed by that performance. He would have figured out a different game plan and insisted and demanded a rematch with Mayweather. He would have exhibited pure Mexican pride and laid it all on the line, like Julio Cesar Chavez, Salvador Sanchez, Erik Morales, Antonio Margarito, Marco Antonio Barrera. That’s what true Mexican champions do. That’s what true champions do. Klitschko wanted the Fury rematch. Kovalev wanted the Ward rematch. Leonard wanted the Duran rematch. Ali wanted the Frazier rematch. Chavez wanted the De La Hoya rematch.

But strangely, Canelo never has voiced a public desire to fight Mayweather again. It’s as if he knows he’s not allowed to have that fight, ever.

And the fact that Mayweather has never tried to lure a Canelo rematch or spoke of trying to make it for another easy money payday just adds to the suspicions.

Also adding to the suspicions is the documented report from Jacky Jasper on his Hollywood gossip site that an associate of Haymon is on the record saying that Haymon paid off Canelo a $5 million bonus to play soft on Floyd. Google “Al haymon sex tape” to read the lurid, shocking details.

So it’s very possible Mayweather vs. Canelo was an inside job. And Canelo is now the protected franchise fighter, just like the one he once served as a patsy for.

As we know in life and boxing, truth is stranger and crazier than fiction. And until Alvarez expresses any desire to want to avenge his loss to Mayweather, he looks like a establishment-protected, fraud, puppet fighter who obediently knows who he is allowed to fight and who he cannot.

(Note: This article is mere speculative theory based on circumstantial evidences, motives and unusual behaviors. Fixed fights are impossible to prove without confessions. But of course, as we know in pro sports, no one ever admits to throwing a fight or using performance enhancing drugs.)