Jon Jones, Canelo Alvarez and the Question of Legacy

Jon Jones, Canelo Alvarez and the Question of Legacy

GuyWhoLikesSport

Legacy is a thorny issue.

It’s constantly moving and changing, both during career and post. The question becomes how do the history books look at someone? Rather than how do we look at you in the moment?

For Jon Jones and Canelo Alvarez, I think we are reaching a point where a once-glorious legacy may be on the line in a way that seemed unfathomable a few years ago.

On the issue of skill, Jones and Alvarez are two of the best ever in their respective sports.

In a young sport like MMA, Jon Jones is on the shortlist alongside Georges St Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov for the mythical Greatest of All Time mantle. He got to that point by dismantling legends like Shogun Rua, Lyoto Machita, and Daniel Cormier.

Canelo couldn’t possibly reach those heights in a sport that’s being going since Moses wore sandals. But he has been the biggest, most consequential star in the sport since Floyd Mayweather Jr.

After a period early in his career where he plainly ducked Gennadiy Golovkin, Canelo eventually fought and beat prime GGG twice (I would argue GGG won the first one).

After that, Canelo chased legacy by beating up Sergey Kovalev at light heavyweight, then unified the super middleweight division, hunting down belt holders like he was internet with the blonde ring girl in Paul v Tyson.

He became just fifth man to fully unify a division in the four-belt era.

But after both men relentlessly chased greatness for a decade, something flipped.

For Canelo, the change appears to be traceable to his loss to Dmitry Bivol in 2022. It was an Icarun loss where Canelo, who had spent years chasing challenges. He flew too close to the sun fighting Bivol who was simply too big for Canelo.

For the only time in his career, Canelo was bullied.

Since the loss, Canelo has fought five times and won each of them times by an uncompetitive unanimous decision. He has beaten the brakes off of the very end of Gennadiy Golovkin, then John Ryder, Jermell Charlo, Jaime Mungia, and Edgar Berlanga. He would have been, at worst, $1.10 favourite in every single one of those fights.

He’s still the undisputed champion of the 168-pound division.

For Jones, it’s a bit of a different story. While activity has defined Canelo’s career, the opposite is true of Jones. For various reasons that include positive steroid tests, significant legal troubles, and injury, Jon Jones has been an inactive fighter.

In any case, the tipping point for him when it comes to taking real challenges seems to have been his highly contested “win” (he lost) over Dominick Reyes in 2020.

That fight was Jon’s last at light heavyweight, then it took him three years to return to the octagon at heavyweight where he beat the very beatable and previously beaten Ciryl Gane in March 2023 for the heavyweight championship of the world.

Then, in 1b for the most embarrassing events this weekend, Jones beat the piss out of a 42-year-old Stipe Miocic off a four year layoff who, straight after the fight, retired by saying “I’m done. I’m hanging up. I’m retiring. Thank God.”

I find it hard to believe that anyone but Jon Jones wanted Stipe Miocic in that cage. And in the UFC, Jon Jones gets what he wants.

He is still the (very much disputed) heavyweight championship belt holder.

Both men, great as they are, have a boogeyman in or around their division. And they are both avoiding that boogeyman like the plague.

Jones is ducking Tom Aspinall.

After beating Miocic, Jon was asked specifically about Aspinall and he decided to thank Jesus Christ and Donald Trump.

Even though Joe Rogan said Aspinall’s name, the best Jon could do was say that he has a lot of options.

In the post-fight presser, Jones said he wants “f**k you” money to fight Aspinall. While he’s right to demand it and should get it, the UFC isn’t prone to giving it.

He’s setting himself up for a fight with the brass and a way out.

We saw it on fight week. We’ve seen it on Twitter.

Jon doesn’t want the smoke.

For Canelo, the question of the boogeyman is more complex.

He does not have a fight booked for his usual date in May, but as it currently stands the favourite is Chris Eubank Jr.

Eubank Jr is a mediocre fighter living off his father’s legendary name. If that fight is booked, Canelo will again be an unbackably short favourite.

The boogeyman sitting out there for him is the ferocious David Benavidez, who has just booked himself a fight with the equally ferocious David Morrell at light heavyweight.

Clearly, therein lies the rub. Light heavyweight is too big for Canelo, and Benavidez is currently fighting at light heavyweight, in large part because Canelo showed no interest in a fight at super middleweight.

However, given the money that Canelo brings to the table, I am positive Benavidiez would starve himself for six months to get back down to the 168-pound limit to give himself a shot at Canelo.

So, there it is.

You have two icons who are both holding belts hostage, refusing to fight the best fighters they can, because of legacy?

Is beating washed up legends in Jones’ case, or never any good nobodies in Canelo’s, worse for legacy than taking on all comers right until the end?

Some will only look at the record, some will look at who makes up the record and understand the context in which the record came. Those who seriously consider what the legacy of a legend is will do the latter. And they will acknowledge that both men are damaging themselves in the annals of history.

Both are legends, no doubt, but they are not perfect. Both have had steroid and ducking opponent issues earlier in their career (GGG for Canelo and generally the concept of a short-notice opponent for Jones).

You could reasonably counter me and say that fighting only the best competition isn’t a fair standard to hold them to given they’re older guys who should be looking to cash in on their names.

Fair enough, but they’re also both holding the belts hostage.

Neither Jones nor Alvarez needs a belt to legitimise them. They have big enough names to demand high purses in the case of Canelo, and not complete dogshit in the case of Jones.

If you’re not going to give us a chance to see who the best at your weight class is, then that’s fine. You don’t need to do it anymore. You’ve already spent a lifetime proving your excellence.

But you must give up the belts.

The way they’re conducting themselves is like Henry and Tommy in Goodfellas. Where Jimmy brought them along and taught them how to make a living on the street, they didn’t extend the same courtesy to Spider, who was a kid just like they were ten years earlier.

More than anything, though, the fight business needs changing of the guard fights. Anthony Joshua just had one and he lost.

Sometimes, though, the old guy wins and elevates himself to another level. Duran v Barkley springs to mind.

So does Poirier v St Denis.

 

At the moment, Jones and Alvarez aren’t giving us a chance to find out.

Instead, they’re trying to have their cakes and eat them too.

They are holding onto the belt at all costs while refusing to take on anyone that could challenge them.

They’re not giving us a changing of the guard fight. They’re not allowing new blood in.

They’re hurting the ecosystem of the fight business.

If that doesn’t at least impact a legacy, I don’t know what could.

 

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