"If they really fancy the job, they'd make an offer, a serious offer"
Monday 15 June 2020 20:34, UK
Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez's team should have made a "serious offer" if they genuinely wanted the Callum Smith fight, says the WBA champion's trainer Joe Gallagher.
The WBA 'super' title holder hopes to receive news on his next fight after waiting in vain for an elusive clash with Canelo, who was also close to finalising a battle with fellow British super-middleweight Billy Joe Saunders.
Smith's long-term trainer Gallagher understands why the Mexican star has recently been linked with US-based opponents such as Sergiy Derevyanchenko amid the coronavirus pandemic, but questioned why his fighter did not receive a more attractive offer.
"Canelo, he's that puzzle isn't he," Gallagher told Sky Sports. "You can't work him out in the ring and you can't work out what he's going to do outside of the ring, until it's nailed on.
"Him and Callum Smith would be a great fight. Whether they're serious about fighting Callum Smith, that's down to them. If they want to fight Callum Smith and fight the No 1, all they have to do is say, 'We want to fight you,' pay the money and the job is done.
"If they really fancy the job, they'd make an offer, a serious offer. Not like last time they made an offer, and then eventually Callum did accept an offer, but they never came back."
Saunders was set to face Canelo in Las Vegas, until the proposed fight was shelved due to the coronavirus and Gallagher believes the WBO champion could instead share the ring with Smith, in a unification clash on UK soil.
"Callum is a world champion, coming up for nearly two years now," said Gallagher. "The main thing for Callum in this lockdown, we've got to get him out and get him busy, and get him going again, whether that means we have to fight a British fighter over here first before we have to go stateside.
"We don't know. There's loads of possibilities. There's Callum Smith-Billy Joe, (Zach) Parker who just became Billy Joe's mandatory after winning his last fight. That could happen over here. You just don't know."
