Two days before Canelo Alvarez defends against Christian Mbilli on Halloween, Mickey Bey — speaking on Mill City Boxing as part of the Haney camp, “we” and “our two titles” throughout — quietly laid out the camp’s whole roadmap, and put two picks on the record with his own name on them.
The roadmap first. “I want Ryan to get the belt from Teofimo and we fight him for the undisputed next year. That’s the biggest fight in boxing.” That is Bey’s plan, stated plainly: Ryan Garcia takes Teofimo Lopez’s belt, Haney’s side wins their fight and holds their two, and the rematch — with the first fight’s weight dispute (the 3½-to-4-pound advantage Bey raises again in this session) and PED argument still hanging over it — becomes an undisputed mega-fight early next year. No winner pick for Haney–Ryan was made. It is a plan, not a prediction.
The picks Bey made: on Ryan Garcia versus Teofimo Lopez — “Oh, I got Ryan winning that. Yeah, I got Ryan.” And on Saturday’s fight, Canelo versus Mbilli: “I got Canelo winning just cuz he’s the smarter fighter. I think he’ll be able to slow Mbilli’s pace down… Canelo’s real good counter puncher, smart fighter, more experience.” Bey concedes Mbilli will be in Canelo’s face trying to force the pace — the pick is about craft and experience holding up until Canelo shows it is not there anymore.
Two more Bey notes worth the space. He is glad Liam Paro beat Lewis Crocker and took the challenge — Paro being the man waiting on Haney in December. And on the floated Ryan Garcia versus Floyd Mayweather idea, Bey doubts it happens at all: Floyd, 50 years old, would need a multi-fight deal, not a one-off, and Bey explicitly refused to pick it — said he would stay away from betting it either way.
Our take: the Canelo pick is the safe one and probably the right one. The Ryan-over-Teofimo pick is the tell — the Haney camp is not just hoping for the rematch, they are routing for it, belt by belt. Whether Teofimo cooperates with being a stepping stone is another story.
Video credit: Mill City Boxing.
