Matchroom-promoted Smith hasn’t let go of how he views that night, even as the rest of the division has moved on from it. Fans saw what they saw. Smith was matched against Alvarez in their 2020 fight and spent much of the match with his back against the ropes.
Nothing since Canelo vs. Callum Smith gave someone a reason to see it differently. The result was clear then, and it still reads the same now. Smith has remained active and picked up wins at 175, but he hasn’t put on a performance that forces a second look at what happened.
Canelo has lost a step in recent outings, even in fights he has won. The performances against Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia looked lackluster, and his performance against Terence Crawford made the decline more visible. Despite the loss, Alvarez can still pick and choose, and there’s no reason for him to revisit an opponent he’s already handled with ease.
Smith has a more immediate problem ahead of him against David Morrell Jr. on April 18 in Liverpool. That fight will say more about where he stands than anything linked to Canelo. If he loses, the conversation ends there. If he wins, he still has work to do before a rematch becomes anything more than talk.
The idea only holds from one side. Canelo already gave him the answer six years ago, and nothing since then has changed that. A more realistic rematch for Smith would be for him to focus on Artur Beterbiev, who knocked him out in seven rounds in 2024.
At least Beterbiev fights in the same weight class as Smith, and that would surely increase the likelihood of them fighting again. However, it is interesting that Callum is not nagging about revisiting a second fight with Beterbiev. Now, why is that?
