Eleider Alvarez's Trainer Believes Time Has Come To Retire

[Primetyme199]

https://www.boxingscene.com/eleider-alv ... re--151216

Eleider Alvarez and his coach made a pact together.

When he would suffer his next defeat, it was understood that the boxer had to hang up his gloves in order to leave his sport in good health.

This is the scenario that will occur after the painful loss against Joe Smith, which took place on Saturday night at the MGM Grand's Conference Center in Las Vegas.

Alvarez (25-2, 13 KOs) was uncompetitive against Smith (25-3, 21 KOs), who landed numerous damaging punches until he scored a knockout victory in the ninth round. Alvarez suffered a broken nose during the fight.

Alvarez's head trainer, Marc Ramsay, had already noticed a decline in his boxer's abilities when his fighter was preparing for the rematch with Sergey Kovalev - a fight where Kovalev outboxed Alvarez over twelve rounds.

"We thought we were going to do one last lap together and that we were going to make sure it was fun," Ramsay told Mathieu Boulay of The Montreal Journal.

“We were going to keep moving forward as long as it made sense. Against Smith Jr, this is the first time that we saw that we were really not in the game. I want us to stop this. We must not forget that there is life after boxing.

"We had difficulties during this camp [for the Kovalev rematch]. We continued to have them thereafter. I watch him in the gym. Eleider isn't the same guy anymore. I've been seeing it for a while. The legs are not there as before. His metabolism slowed down. He just isn't able to keep up and neither is his body.

“His metabolism is not what it used to be. The rounds in sparring are getting more and more complicated, regardless of the partners he has in front of him. We knew that the end was drawing near with him."

Several observers will try to find the precise reasons for the one-sided loss against Smith. Among the points that will be raised, there will be the training camp which was held in Quebec with the COVID-19 restrictions. However, Ramsay quickly dismissed this argument.

"It has nothing to do with it," said Ramsay. "We did what we had to do in the gym to be ready for this fight. It's not a question of tactics or preparation. Eleider is simply at the end. In boxing, this is obvious more than it is in other sports. You can't hide on a fourth line like in hockey.

“We were not in the game from the first round. Still, I hoped that Eleider could change the pace of the fight with a power shot. I could see Smith was burning gas and I was still hoping it might work.

“As the rounds went by, Eleider's defense was declining as well. After the eighth round, I warned him that it was his last round for him to do something. However, I wanted a good defense and a bomb. I didn't want him to take bad shots like he had in previous rounds."

[the13r]

A career and potential wasted on step aside money

[jeff_lacy_ko]

I disagree 13. Good fighter but nothing great. Made a lot of money not fighting rather than getting crushed by Stevenson. He lost every round he fought against kovalev except the ko round. Joe Smith dominated him.

[the13r]

I think he was a hot and cold fighter due to no challenges and bad managing... He was in the shadow of Stevenson and that cost him a few good paydays imo...

I think when hot he could have beaten anyone... he had insane hand skills like he showed in the stoppage od Dudchenko and decent power too... Just never materialized... IMO it was evident when he went the distance vs a damaged and limited Andrew Gardiner... That showed he wasn't focus enough and would struggle if not challenged... when he made the BIG step ups, it was too late.

Reminded me of Andrade of loss his shot at getting belt when he accepted step aside money to let Beyer fight Kessler instead of stopping Beyer himself.

[Tocsin]

He had a good career. Won a world title and scored wins over Pascal, Kovalev, and Bute, plus some very nice KTFOs. Got a million dollar payday and earned okay in other fights and step-asides.

[the13r]

no doubt BUT when you look at it from another perspective... he had massive talent and was never promoted accordingly in that they never invested in building his popularity here where gate money is serious money if you are popular and even worse... He was evolving in what was the best place on earth to be a LHW and only ends up with VERY limited accomplishments imo considering that.

he had guys like Pascal, Bute, Beterbiev, Stevenson (i'm forgetting more) and other local emerging talents he could've dealt with and gain career momentum... The gate money and the names attracted top LHW like Kovalev to fight in Quebec too...

reminds me how they fucked up Jojo Dan's career

[Slippery Pete II]

no doubt BUT when you look at it from another perspective... he had massive talent and was never promoted accordingly in that they never invested in building his popularity here where gate money is serious money if you are popular and even worse... He was evolving in what was the best place on earth to be a LHW and only ends up with VERY limited accomplishments imo considering that.

he had guys like Pascal, Bute, Beterbiev, Stevenson (i'm forgetting more) and other local emerging talents he could've dealt with and gain career momentum... The gate money and the names attracted top LHW like Kovalev to fight in Quebec too...

reminds me how they fucked up Jojo Dan's career

He fought and beat both Pascal and Bute.

The problem with Alvarez is that he didn't have much of a fan friendly style. Outside of the Kovalev win he always looked like a fighter that could never get out of second gear, or just didn't want to. He fought every round at the same pace. There never seemed to be points in his fights where he decided to turn it up a notch.

He did about as well as could be expected of him. He just didn't seem to have much fire or personality in the ring.

The win over Kovalev is the exception to a career that was just kind of ho-hum. Nobody really seemed to notice the guy, nobody seemed to care because there was nothing exceptional about him in the ring.