Boxing

Teddy Atlas Questions If Canelo Alvarez Is Overrated After William Scull Stinker

Boxing icon Teddy Atlas got honest about where Canelo Alvarez is at in his career right now.
Grant Young|
Boxing icon Teddy Atlas.
Boxing icon Teddy Atlas. | IMAGO / Christian Schroedter

Despite earning the win in his May 3 fight against William Scull, Canelo Alvarez has been criticized by many in the boxing community because of his performance in the fight. Specifically, the fact that he threw agonizingly little volume which made for a historically slow-paced bout that did nothing to keep fans entertained.

Boxing icon Oscar De La Hoya put Canelo on blast for his performance by saying, "But it's sad, it really is. When you're fighting for the money and not legacy, every young fighter follows that pattern, and it's not fair... The fans want to see good fights!"

Many agree with De La Hoya's sentiment that Canelo lacks the same hunger he had while he was ascending the sport, and is now content to put on lackluster performances for insane sums of money.

Legendary boxing trainer Teddy Atlas took it a step further during his criticism of the Canelo vs. Scull fight, saying, "There's nothing else: [Canelo] got old, he has made so much money that he's not hungry anymore, that there was no urgency... that there was no reason to take a chance, to get reckless.

"Or one other thing. As long as I got Mexican fans ready to go nuts... or he's overrated," Atlas continued of Canelo.

Atlas later went on to say that he thinks the problem was more so that Canelo was afraid to take a risk because he knew that an upset knockout loss would mean he would lose the Terence Crawford fight.

Regardless, Atlas posing the question about whether Canelo is overrated speaks volumes.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.