Canelo Alvarez 'Is Very Small But Can Damage Any Heavyweight,' Undefeated Champ Says

Some people in boxing are really convinced that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez does hit like a natural heavyweight.

In his training camp for the Callum Smith fight, Alvarez sparred with heavyweight champion Frank Sanchez.

All the way through Alvarez’s victory over Smith on Saturday, Sanchez showed his support to the Mexican boxing superstar.

After the match, Sanchez was asked how it was to spar Alvarez and if it’s true that the multi-division champ has the power of a legitimate heavyweight fighter.

According to Sanchez, everything that has been said about Alvarez hitting “like a heavyweight” was true and he has kept on telling him the same thing.

The reigning WBA-NABO heavyweight champ even thinks Alvarez can hurt anybody from the said division.

“Canelo [Alvarez] is a very small fighter but he can damage any heavyweight with his punch,” Sanchez told Elie Seckbach of EsNews. “I keep telling him ‘you hit like a heavyweight’.”

Contrary to what Sanchez predicted, Buddy McGirt is not convinced Alvarez can stand the punches of a professional heavyweight fighter.

Moreso, McGirt also believes Alvarez won’t become a heavyweight champ like James Toney. For the hall of fame trainer, there’s no way a lighter fighter can possibly win against a naturally bigger guy.

“No. [Alvarez] he’s not that type of fighter,” McGirt predicted. “I used to spar heavyweights when I was fighting but I would never try it (in a real fight). Hell no! Those punches hurt man. When you’re fighting a heavyweight with 10-ounce gloves, that s—t hurts. And no headgears?”

Alvarez hasn’t hinted at any desire to move up to heavyweight at the moment. After beating Smith to claim the WBA super middleweight title and the vacant WBC belt, the 30-year-old now wants to unify all the belts at the 168-pound division, opening up a potential encounters with WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders and IBF titleholder Caleb Plant.

"I feel great at 168(lbs),” Alvarez told DAZN (via Sky Sports). “I don't want to fight with the scale. After 13 months, we'll see what I can do. Unify, I want all the belts. It doesn't matter who is there."

As for a trilogy fight with his ultimate middleweight nemesis Gennadiy Golovkin, who is also fresh off a TKO win over Kamil Szeremeta on Friday, Alvarez assures that there will no problem as long the Kazakh fighter will be down for it as well.

"Of course, if he is going to take that fight, I'll take it,” Alvarez said of a trilogy fight with Golovkin. “But I showed the world that I fight against the best."