Is Canelo the Definitive Face of Boxing?

[Marc A]

Dude, that is still very debatable. That's what we are doing now.

Hell, Mayweather is still more popular than Canelo, despite being on and off retired.

Is canelo one of the superstars of boxing? Absolutely.

To answer your question, my definition of "the face of boxing" means someone whose status pretty much transcends the sport and all of the sanctioning bodies...a person whose popularity reaches out beyond the true fans, casuals and everyday folk who rarely if ever watch boxing. For example, you hear the word "boxing" and immediately several fighters come to mind.

Examples of this would be Mike Tyson, delahoya, and to a slightly lesser extent, Mayweather and manny Pacquiao.

Mexico is part of North America he ticks all those boxes

And the Spanish channels in the USA is flooded with his mug

What other boxer other than a retired Floyd has that in NA? Who ?

PPV supports that

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

Mexico is part of North America he ticks all those boxes

And the Spanish channels in the USA is flooded with his mug

What other boxer other than a retired Floyd has that in NA? Who ?

PPV supports that

Tbh, I've seen zero commercials of canelo. (Not kidding)

And I'm not trolling here either, but I've seen more commercials and ads for Conor McGregor in the US mainstream media.

I think we're splitting straws here.

Canelo is a superstar of boxing, but I dont believe he's the "definitive face of boxing".

 

[Marc A]

Tbh, I've seen zero commercials of canelo. (Not kidding)

And I'm not trolling here either, but I've seen more commercials and ads for Conor McGregor in the US mainstream media.

I think we're splitting straws here.

Canelo is a superstar of boxing, but I dont believe he's the "definitive face of boxing".

Who do you have as the face of boxing in North Amercia (ie not just the US) nor a retired Floyd?

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

Who do you have as the face of boxing in North Amercia (ie not just the US) nor a retired Floyd?

No one tbh...but rather a group....like the fantastic four.

I would easily say, canelo is one of the most popular fighters in boxing today

 

[GolovkinGOAT]

No it's not, lol.

No one right now outside of Mayweather and Pacquiao is all that close to transcending the sport and becoming an icon in pop culture internationally. Joshua probably has the best chance there.

Don’t kid yourself. Floyd and Pacquiao are no longer hot commodities in boxing, be it mainstream or Mayweather. In fact for he purist minds of the sweet science Floyd was always superior to PAC. To the casual boxing fans that thought HBO was the holy grail or de facto bought into Pacquiao as some legendary boxer.

Canelo at 28 vs Pacquiao at 28, opposition alone he was always the superior boxer. Top Rank creating controversial series for Pacquiao with other in-house TR boxers... cmon..

Aside from what’s on paper or popularity contests to now justify that Canelo isn’t as popular because his recent win jogged many GGG fans’ heads...

Let’s just say the best of Canelo is to come. Canelo with Tecate alone for mainstream USA commercials is bigger than any commercials Floyd or Manny ever achieved. Commmercials in Mexico or Phillipines doesn’t even matter.

 

[Seano]

He clearly is. He's the cash cow. He's beating other top guys. He's the guy everyone wants to fight.

 

[GolovkinGOAT]

The real question is why GGG, with HBO backing, still couldn’t make him more popular than Canelo. It seems as if boxing’s niche popularity and sweet science fans influence to casual perception of who does what, since YouTube comments vs YouTube comments exists with rivalry comments...

Many ATG boxers at the moment are speaking highly of Canelo. This has a big impact for more “popularity.” Style wise, AJ is no Muhammad Ali, and therefore, skills, Canelo is more skilled than AJ and the Mexican isn’t even an Olympian, as PAC wasn’t who too started at 15 years of age.

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

When are we regular boxing forum posters gonna hook up and watch a fight together?

 

[ironfist05]

him and AJ. Pac based on legacy, but right now, AJ and Canelo are the names that are selling.

 

[ccm22]

The venues booked for Joshua vs wilder in April if they can agree the fight. I’m not sure it will happen at all

I don’t think either man has an issue fighting the other. I’m sure they want the fight. But one guy is with Showtime and the other with DAZN, and that is a huge obstacle.

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

no love for Wilder in this thread?

@PUO3 gtfih!!

 

[Marc A]

Canelo and AJ. It isnt even close.

Canelo’s numbers speak for themselves.

@LogicalInsanity , case closed

 

[GolovkinGOAT]

Canelo and AJ. It isnt even close.

Canelo’s numbers speak for themselves.

Agreed. I feel bad making fun of UK fans when it comes to metrics because at the end of the day I hate to lure boxing fans away from our badass sport, be it more of a lesson to newcomers.

Maybe Hearn thinks America sports goers arent knowledgeable with ticket prices, but he should know the USA has its own premium pricing for whatever US based sport in discussion.

First things first, with Hearn saying tickets were sold for GGG vs Brook in less than 5 min vs AJ vs Povetkin taking a month... seriously... something happened in the UK scene that put a holt on Matchroom retention schemes with ticket master.

For events to be sold out in 5 min means 95% reduced pricing, UK ads in papers or commercials to say the date time and location where to buy tickets at such prices when available...

In other words, the selling of UK boxing matches aren’t only comedic or suspect under Matchroom events, but they’ve got no dent in REAL premium pricing like Canelo.

People need to understand, if Smith vs Alvarez sold out with 55K seats at AT&T stadium in Texas, can u guys imagine the Mayhem of Texas based boxers in the Charlo Bros and Spence for Canelo. Would Haymon even advice that? This isn’t even Vegas we’re talking about. Canelo can justify Vegas with a different set of fighters.

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

@LogicalInsanity , case closed

well shit...if @PUO3 says so...then I guess I'm on board.

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

off topic, but this probably my favorite Canelo moment...




after evading all of those punches, he has this expression on his face, "wow, this boxing shit really works!"

 

[Badr Hari]

It depends. Face of boxing in Mexico and USA. Maybe. But in other parts of the world nobody gives a shit about him (except hardcores). In Europe I can tell you with certainty Joshua became the face of boxing when he beat Klitschko. The Klitschko's kicked so much ass everyone talks about them over there even after their retirement. Joshua has a good shot at becoming equally popular but the problem is his last two fights are not in TV in most countries and I believe his fight on Saturday won't be either. Hearn fucked up with these deals and you know the casuals don't give a shit if watching a fight requires more than simply turning on your television.

 

[PUO3]

It depends. Face of boxing in Mexico and USA. Maybe. But in other parts of the world nobody gives a shit about him (except hardcores). In Europe I can tell you with certainty Joshua became the face of boxing when he beat Klitschko. The Klitschko's kicked so much ass everyone talks about them over there even after their retirement. Joshua has a good shot at becoming equally popular but the problem is his last two fights are not in TV in most countries and I believe his fight on Saturday won't be either. Hearn fucked up with these deals and you know the casuals don't give a shit if watching a fight requires more than simply turning on your television.

Same can be said for AJ outside of Europe.

Worldwide popularity is tricky to measure I suppose, and Im not even sure how many fighters have been “worldwide stars”.

That said, Canelo and AJ are so far from the rest of the pack that no one else even deserves mention, regardless of how concentrated the popularity is to a certain location.

 

[FightGuyOpenMind]

Same can be said for AJ outside of Europe.

Worldwide popularity is tricky to measure I suppose, and Im not even sure how many fighters have been “worldwide stars”.

That said, Canelo and AJ are so far from the rest of the pack that no one else even deserves mention, regardless of how concentrated the popularity is to a certain location.

Do you think AJ's brief criminal history could create a ceiling for how popular or mainstream he becomes if someone chooses to reference it? Nothing is off the table in boxing.

I think of it this way.....Floyd embraced being the bad guy, so it worked. Floyd was so popular in the height of his career because people wanted to see him lose. These were the biggest PPV draws, when he was thought to be at risk of losing. He was the face of boxing largely because he was the heel.

Joshua did sell out Wembley however.

Canelo I think has everything needed to sell to the hardcore fans, and the casual fans alike.

Do you think their is a ceiling for either? Whether it be Canelo's lack of English (as posted earlier) or AJ potentially losing fans on the basis of his past run ins with the law? "Worldwide" meaning comparable success, and recognition as Mayweather to become "the guy" in boxing.

 

[aries]

Do you think AJ's brief criminal history could create a ceiling for how popular or mainstream he becomes if someone chooses to reference it? Nothing is off the table in boxing.

I think of it this way.....Floyd embraced being the bad guy, so it worked. Floyd was so popular in the height of his career because people wanted to see him lose. These were the biggest PPV draws, when he was thought to be at risk of losing. He was the face of boxing largely because he was the heel.

Joshua did sell out Wembley however.

Canelo I think has everything needed to sell to the hardcore fans, and the casual fans alike.

Do you think their is a ceiling for either? Whether it be Canelo's lack of English (as posted earlier) or AJ potentially losing fans on the basis of his past run ins with the law? "Worldwide" meaning comparable success, and recognition as Mayweather to become "the guy" in boxing.

AJ won't be affected by his run in with the law lol. Literally nobody gives a flying fuck that he dealt a little drugs. They put it down to bad decisions made as an adolescent. Well that's how it is in the UK, maybe the US might be a bit more anally retentive about it, I don't know. AJ will be bigger than Canelo if he keeps winning. Beating Wilder would turn him into a global megastar. He's a HW. The average person gives a shit about the HW's.

 

[Boxiana]

No, especially with boxing becoming as big as it is in the UK. He's the biggest name in North America and is going to be a strong draw for a long time, but a guy like Joshua has massive potential in the UK and beyond if he can win his fights. There is no definitive face of boxing at the moment, and there rarely has been a fixed one in the sport's history for any amount of time. We'll see how things go.

This. Of my casual boxing friends, exacly 0% watched the Canelo GGG fight (until I sent them links and told them they should). Maybe I should get new friends, but the reality is that Canelo has less name recognition than GGG this side of the pond (IMO), and everyone is focused on Joshua.

The last definitive face would be Tyson IMO (Mike).

EDIT: He should be though, and god knows Oscar wants him to be. I think its actually a credit to him that he hasnt gone all fucking Conor Mcgregor to become it.