Canelo Alvarez of Mexico is brushing off criticisms and using them as motivation at this stage of his career. The Mexican is being criticised for his recent statement that he will only fight Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan at a catchweight of 155 pounds and the bout being tabbed as a middleweight bout, or what should have been at 160 pounds.

“[Critics saying things about you is] something that is natural, something that will always exist even if you're the best. It is part of this business. Criticism is just something that occurs. I do not really care [about what the critics are saying],” Alvarez said via boxingscene.com. “I don't even begin to start thinking about that. All of this for me is motivation. I will keep giving my best in each fight, and focus on being satisfied with myself, with my career, and that's what motivates me.”

For comparison, the junior middleweight/super welterweight limit is set at 154 pounds, which means the catchweight fight of the potential middleweight match-up between Alvarez and Golovkin is just one pound of the lower weight division.

Golovkin has also recently stated that he won’t agree to a lower catchweight in the possible fight against Alvarez.

Traditionally, the sport of boxing has only eight weight divisions and boxers have had to reach those limits during the weigh-in or the day before the bout. The catchweight fight’s purpose is for both fighters, who both agreed to the contracted weight, to have a level-playing field as per their demands.

Canelo’s opponent, Cotto has also been criticised in the past for demanding a catchweight in previous fights, particularly in his 2015 title defence of the World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight championship against Daniel Geale last June. The fight was at a catchweight of 157 pounds, three off the middleweight limit, and Cotto won via a fourth round knockout.

The Canelo-Cotto fight is for the WBC middleweight title and will be held at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States on Nov. 21.

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