Canelo Alvarez said it himself, on camera, after the Christian Mbilli fight. Asked what Eddy Reynoso told him when he got into his groove in the sixth round, Canelo’s answer was simple: the instructions are always correct — do your job, move, keep the jab, do what Canelo does. AKHi TV did not let that pass. This is the Mexican-style king himself, the man who built a brand on only liking fighters who come forward, admitting the game plan against Mbilli was to move and move. In the host’s words, what Canelo fans like to call running — that was the plan. Reynoso was telling him to keep moving. Keep running.
And once Canelo says it out loud, the vocabulary collapses. Because the same fans called Terence Crawford a runner for moving against Canelo — a man who moved up three weight divisions and still stood in the pocket with Canelo more than Mbilli did. They called Floyd Mayweather a runner, and they still do. But when Canelo chose to run, AKHi notes, nobody said Tom and Jerry. When he moves it is called movement. It is called boxing. It is called skills. When a fighter 30 pounds smaller ties him up, that is fear and no heart. When Canelo ties up, that is strategy. The host’s demand is the whole video in one line: keep the same energy.
There is a harder point under the comedy. Canelo’s movement, sharp counters and defence completely nullified Mbilli. Mbilli landed two right hands at a time and then backed out in a straight line, because he knew what was waiting — the same dangerous counters Manny Pacquiao saw when he had Floyd in a corner and backed off anyway, the counters that put Juan Manuel Marquez’s name in every cautious fighter’s nightmares. Mbilli was afraid to fight Mexican style, the host says, and could not have fought it even if he wanted to. And the levels cut the other way too: Floyd moved less against Canelo than Canelo moved against Mbilli, and backed the bigger man up more. Crawford stood in the pocket more than Mbilli did. On the host’s scorecard, Canelo is chasing Floyd and Crawford’s blueprint — a poor version of them, an eBay version on their off day.
Our take: Turki wanted a Mexican war and complained when he did not get one — now Canelo himself has confirmed the war was never the plan. That should end the runner talk for good. Movement is boxing when Crawford does it, when Floyd does it, and when Canelo does it. And if a Mexican war is truly what Canelo wants next, AKHi left the name sitting on the table: David Benavidez, the Mexican Monster, is still waiting.
Video credit: AKHi TV.
