By Dan Ambrose: Eddie Hearn says he’s going to give Canelo Alvarez several options for him to choose from for his next fight in the first quarter of 2022.
If Hearn gets his way, he’d like to see Canelo fight one of these guys:
Gennadiy Golovkin
Dimitry Bivol
John Ryder
Canelo has already fought Golovkin twice, but there’s still a lot of interest from boxing fans in seeing a trilogy match between the two.
Assuming Canelo will go in that direction, he needs to fight Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) soon because he’s about to turn 40 in April.
Hearn expects PBC and some other promoters to give Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) some choices as well, and he’ll pick the best option for him.
At this point, the Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn isn’t sure which direction Canelo will go in for his next fight.
Hearn thinks Canelo may defend his undisputed super middleweight title against one of the top contenders, which could be John Ryder or David Benavidez.
There’s also the possibility that Canelo will move up to 175 to try and become the undisputed champion in that weight class.
Last Saturday, Canelo completed his three-year mission to become the undisputed champion at 168 with an 11th round stoppage win over IBF champion Caleb Plant.
Hearn lists options for Canelo
“Bivol, I think Canelo is in such a great position that he and Eddy Reynoso are going to do exactly what they want to do,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV when asked who does he think Alvarez should fight next.
“We’re going to go to him and say, ‘Here are our three or four options.’ PBC is going to say, ‘Here are our three or four options,’ and somebody else is probably going to put three or four options out there,” said Hearn about Canelo’s next fight.
“He’s going to look at the deal and decide which one he wants to do. I think the GGG fight is going to be such a big fight, and there’s going to be an announcement about him very soon. He’s [Gennadiy Golovkin] got a big unification fight coming up [against WBA middleweight champion Ryota Murata].
“The GGG vs. Canelo fight is a massive fight and probably the biggest money fight out there for Canelo. But he’s got enough money. It’s not just about who pays the most money, and it’s got to be a fight that motivates him.
“I think he can become undisputed at 175 as well,” Hearn said of Canelo having a good chance of capturing all four belts at light heavyweight.
“You’ve got Dimitry Bivol; I think he’d be a favorite in that fight, Joe Smith Jr. and [Artur] Beterbiev is an absolute all-out war.
“Maybe he decides, but with Canelo, it’s sort of about having a plan for a new challenge, and maybe Golovkin presents that, or maybe it doesn’t, or maybe he wants to crack on to 175. Maybe he wants to fight [David] Benavidez. He’ll decide,” Hearn said of Canelo deciding on his next opponent.
Hearn might get his way if he pushes Canelo hard enough to fight Dimitry Bivol, Gennadiy Golovkin, or John Ryder. Those are obviously the three guys that Hearn will offer for Canelo to fight.
Ryder is the oddball of those three, considering he’s more along the lines of the fighters that Canelo has been fighting consistently since 2018.
There’s not much difference in talent because Ryder and Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, Rocky Fielding, or Caleb Plant.
If Canelo takes the fight with Ryder next, it’s going to be evident that he’s continuing to take safe fights. Boxing fans are hoping that Canelo breaks the mold and starts fighting quality opposition once again because he’s been taking it easy for the last three years.
You can make a strong argument that Canelo hasn’t fought a good opponent since 2o18 when he beat Golovkin by a controversial decision.
Canelo will work with anybody
“I’m sure they did. They said the same thing about us, and they like working with everybody,” said Hearn when told that Canelo’s trainer Eddy Reynoso said he likes working with Al Haymon at PBC.
“They will work with everybody, and they’re in a good position where they can basically do what they want. He [Canelo] would never have become undisputed if he were in a long-term network contract because [Caleb] Plant wouldn’t fight off PBC.
“Haymon wouldn’t let him. So the only way to do it was for Canelo to jump over there [PBC] for one fight. It was the perfect scenario.
“It’s not a model that works for all fighters because you need the security of a network backing you, but when you’re a superstar like him, having that fluidity, there’s something that can be said about it in terms of landing the big fights,” said Hearn of Canelo.
If Canelo wants to fight Jermall Charlo or David Benavidez, it helps that he’s got the freedom to battle on PBC events on SHOWTIME, like we saw last Saturday night in his fight with Caleb Plant.
It’s unclear if Canelo has any interest in fighting former two-time WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez. We know that Canelo likes the idea of battle Charlo, but it might be a different story with Benavidez.
That’s a more brutal fight for Canelo because Benavidez has a good chin, is young, powerful and he throws a lot of punches. He could force Canelo to fight at a pace that his body isn’t capable of sustaining.
If Canelo takes the fight with Charlo, he will be expected to fight Benavidez as well.
