I stand by what I said, Callum Smith can win this fight. Ryder has a whole different skillset and physical talents than Canelo. Canelo don't have the active feet like Ryder does to work his way in, he'll have to do it straight boxing upright, and that is how Canelo will have to win. Callum is too tall and too long for Canelo to try to beat him outboxing not to mention Callum can punch he Canelo put down Rocky Fielding in 4 rounds, Callum walked him down and stopped him inside 2 minutes, Callum can literally just jab his way to victory that way.
Callum Smith is going to come out and establish his jab. He can move side to side, and he is smart with his punches and good at exploiting openings, and with his massive reach advantage he can pick Canelo apart. Canelo is going to have to utilize upper body movement and try to wear Callum down in the early rounds with body work, because I don't think Callum is going to let Canelo touch his chin too much early he will be expecting it. Canelo is going to have to break him down, Callum has an excellent jab so that will be a lot easier said than done, and I fully expect Callum Smith to utilize his jab and his fairly good ability to use the ring. Callum's defense is solid, nothing special but it is good enough, doesn't drop his hands a lot or leave his jab out there, he doesn't make a lot of mistakes.
Callum Smith is actually a good fundamental boxer, his style can be basic, but he is technically sound because he doesn't make a lot of mistakes, but like I have said before he suffers from the same problem most Euro's do, he has no inside game at least not against someone smaller than him; I have seen him fight in spots on the inside, and he may be able to do it well against someone his size or bigger, but against a smaller opponent he is too long to compact himself to fight there effectively and Canelo will have to pressure him on the inside to the body Mexican style to win this fight, move his head and always make sure he is going for the body coming in until he can open up his chin.
Canelo is capable of doing this, but it took him 11 rounds to find Kovalev, Smith is a spring chicken compared to Kovalev with fresh legs and no history of stamina issues, granted both fighters may have a little bit of ring rust given the long layoff for both of them.
I predict Callum Smith by MD in this fight, although given the fact I saw he was bothered by Ryder's body work I an see a Canelo stoppage via a body shot sometime between rounds 9-12, while Callum Smith can punch I have no reason to doubt Canelo's chin, and no reason to doubt Callum's either he can take a punch, I do have doubts about Callum's ability to take a body punch though which I am sure Canelo will try to exploit.
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