Who Will Canelo Alvarez Fight Next?

November 15, 2023

2 years

Speculation has been mounting over Canelo Alvarez’s next opponent as the Mexican faces serious questions over his career for the first time.

Canelo’s loss to Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight cast doubt on his form, as he was comprehensively beaten via a unanimous decision.

Although Canelo was moving up to face the current WBA champion, the manner of his defeat was alarming.

Thereafter, news emerged that Canelo had damaged his hand, suggesting that he was not one hundred percent in that fight, as the star later had surgery.

However, his comeback fights against Gennady Golovkin and John Ryder failed to impress. The failure to knock out both fighters raised doubts that Canelo could be on the decline.

And the pressure from the boxing community has been intense too. Bivol has made it clear that a rematch with Canelo only makes sense at 168 lbs for his undisputed super middleweight titles, while Saul favors a rematch on the same terms.

Outside of Bivol, the boxing community has demanded an all-Mexican clash with the ‘Mexican Monster’ David Benavidez.

Canelo’s previous comments that he doesn’t want to fight Mexicans, though, have led to suggestions that he is ducking Benavidez. As such, it appears that Canelo could turn his focus elsewhere.

According to Mike Coppinger, Canelo’s team has engaged in discussions with Jermall Charlo and Badou Jack for a potential fight, as Bivol may turn his attention to unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev.

‼️ Canelo Alvarez vs Jermall Charlo
reportedly could happen next. It’s claimed that Canelo and Eddy Reynoso met with Al Haymon last week to discuss the fight. Canelo also in talks for potential Badou Jack bout in Saudi Arabia. [According to @MikeCoppinger] pic.twitter.com/jOArLInZlA

— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) June 13, 2023

Charlo is the current WBC champion at middleweight, but he has been inactive for two years, which is why the fight may not appease the fans.

In contrast, Jack is the current WBC cruiserweight champion following his shock win over Ilunga Junior Makabu.

But with Jack being 39 years old, the fight may fail to muster up any interest. And yet, it appears that Jack may be the frontrunner.

The director of Skills Challenge, Amer Abdullah, has come out to state that the terms of a deal with Jack have been ‘90%’ agreed.

“We’re talking to Canelo directly, and we manage and oversee Badou. There is the intention to have the fight. We have 90% of the terms agreed to.

“I think the only thing that’s sticking now is what the weight is because the financial terms are agreed on the date is agreed on. Everything is there, but the weight is the sticking point.

“We have to clarify with Mauricio [Sulaiman] what the rules are with the WBC are [in terms of how low the weight could go while still having the cruiserweight title at stake].

“Maybe they say, ‘No, you have to fight at cruiserweight to fight for that title. But if you are looking to fight for the cruiserweight title, you can’t have a guy 30 or 40 lbs to come down so that you can fight for a title in a different weight class,” Abdullah