Kamaru Usman has admitted his failed call-out of Canelo Alvarez was due to an inability to provoke a "bite" from the boxing icon.
Alvarez was relentlessly called out for a super-fight by UFC welterweight champion Usman until his recent loss to Dmitry Bivol. But now that he has taken his first defeat since 2013, it appears the Mexican will be focusing his attentions on legitimate boxers for the foreseeable future.
And speaking with MMA Underground ahead of his commentary duties with Eagle FC this weekend, Usman admitted that he was unable to gain the necessary traction to earn a mega-fight with Alvarez. He is now instead going to focus on his own title defences, with Leon Edwards his next opponent.
"It's tough now because everyone is fixated on dominance," Usman said after watching Alvarez lose to Bivol earlier this month in his efforts to add another world title at light heavyweight. "I still think that it's a tremendous fight. It's a phenomenal fight because he's still up there in those pound-for-pound rankings, but of course it's a bit tarnished now because his aura of invincibility has diminished a bit. But more power to him, he's a true champion.
"He's one of the best boxers that we've seen especially in my generation. So hats off to him, it's always been nothing but respect, I was willing to test and challenge myself and he just wasn't biting."
Usman still argues that he could put up a fight against Alvarez, despite a massive disparity in their stand-up skills. He has recently shown more striking than his wrestling background had previously allowed, landing TKO wins over Colby Covington, Gilbert Burns and most notably Jorge Masvidal since becoming champion.
But there would be a different level stepping into the boxing ring with any world level fighter under Queensberry rules, particularly a pound-for-pound great such as Alvarez.
"It makes you feel something when people feel that you don't stand a chance," Usman continued. "At one point everyone was saying 'you have to wrestle Masvidal, you wouldn't stand a chance of standing up with him'.
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"It is what it is, everybody is going to have their opinion. I know the type of work that I'm doing, that I put in so if I believe in myself that it can be done, then why can't it be done? Who thought Muhammad Ali was going to beat George Foreman in that fashion, the way he was disposing of everyone?
"So as an athlete, if you believe in yourself and go in there, I'm the one who has to step in! I have to be the one who takes the punches from him. If I believe I can give him a run for his money for as long as it lasts, then I'm going to do that, I'm brave enough to step in and do that. What's more of a man? Staying safe in your sport, or being willing to challenge yourself and step into another world and try to establish dominance?"
