By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez posted a training video of himself getting ready for his next fight on September 12. Alvarez said, “Enjoy what you do.”
Now that Canelo recently won the WBO 175-pound title, he should be looking at facing guys from 160 to 175. However, he’s not expected to fight a light heavyweight for his next fight or ever again.
His next opponent is supposed to take place in the 168-lb division. There were rumors recently that Golden Boy wanted Sergiy Derevyanchenko for Canelo’s next fight. The Ukrainian fighter would come up from 160 to meet Canelo at 168 if the fight were made.
Canelo looks powerful as usual, but not quite as fast with his hands as he was three years ago. With slightly less than three full months before that date, Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) might not get a dangerous opponent.
Fans want to see Canelo fight a good opponent
It’s going to be fun to see who Golden Boy Promotions picks for Canelo to fight in September. Billy Joe Saunders was the best option until recently when the pandemic hit.
If Golden Boy wants to revive talks for the Canelo-Saunders fight, that’ll make a lot of British boxing fans happy. The U.S fans are indifferent about Saunders being Canelo’s opponents. That would be a bland pick by Canelo but in keeping with what we’ve been seeing from him off and on in the last four years.
Canelo fighting guys like Amir Khan, Sergey Kovalev, Rocky Fielding, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Those were all mismatches involving Canelo facing guys that had no chance of beating him. Saunders would be similar to those guys, but a lot more evasive.
The fans have a small number of opponents that they’re interested in seeing Canelo fight. These are some of the names that have been mentioned:
- David Benavidez
- Caleb Plant
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
- Artur Beterbiev
- Dmitry Bivol
- Callum Smith
- Jermall Charlo
- Demetrius Andrade
Alvarez needs to step it up
The 29-year-old Canelo hadn’t fought since last November when he wiped out past his prime WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
Although Canelo’s boxing fans raved about his performance against the 36-year-old Kovalev, knowledgeable fans weren’t as impressed. They saw Canelo as an opportunist in selecting an old Kovalev rather than the still dangerous 175-pound champions in Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Some of Canelo’s fans won’t mind if he takes on another old guy, but the fans like to see quality fights, they won’t like it. They want to see Canelo fight the best, and not take a guy that’s 36 to 38.
There will be a lot of disappointed boxing fans if Canelo hand-picks another old guy like Kovalev. It’s forlorn at this point seeing Canelo fight so older guys, and it looks strange as if that’s a requirement. If Canelo wants to be taken seriously by the knowledgable fans, he needs to face the fighters that are in their prime.