By Jim Calfa: Trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso is already mapping out the destinations for his fighter Canelo Alvarez for his May and September fights, saying he wants him to battle in Las Vegas and Mexico.
The mastermind Reynoso is the one that decides on who the 31-year-old superstar Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) fights, and he’s saying that he would like to see him face the “media-friendly” Jermall Charlo and Gennadiy Golovkin.
If those two fights go down in 2022, Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) would likely be Canelo’s opponent for the Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend on May 7th on Showtime PPV.
Jermall will be followed by a trilogy match with his nemesis Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) in Mexico City on September 17th on the Mexican Independence Day holiday.
Fans want to see Canelo upgrade his competition
After sitting through the last two years watching Canelo destroy overmatched 168-lb champions from Great Britain, it’ll be a treat for boxing fans to see the Mexican star fight Jermall (32-0, 22 KOs) and Golovkin in 2022.
Those two would at least have a chance of beating Canelo, and it wouldn’t be the common mismatches that we’ve seen from the Mexican superstar in the last two years.
“We are looking to fight in May and September. The first one in the U.S and the last one in Mexico,” said trainer/manager Reynoso to Fight Hub TV on his plans for Canelo Alvarez’s two fights in 2022.
“Let’s see if we can fight in Azteca Stadium [in Mexico City with seating capacity: 87,523]. Hopefully, we get a chance to fight there,” said Reynoso about Canelo’s fight in September of this year.
WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol is a possibility for Canelo to fight next on May 7th, as he’s part of a two-fight deal offered to the Mexican star by British promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing.
Hearn promoted the unbeaten 31-year-old Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs), and he also works with the superstar Golovkin. As such, Hearn is offering Canelo to fight Bivol and GGG in 2022, which would take place on the DAZN streaming platform.
The deal offered for Canelo to face Jermall Charlo is from Premier Boxing Champions [PBC], and it would be a one-and-done situation.
Reynoso’s praise of Jermall, 32, suggests that he’s planning on going in that direction for Canelo’s next fight in May rather than agreeing to Hearn’s two-fight deal.
Hearn’s deal would involve Alvarez moving up to 175 for a risky match against unbeaten Russian Bivol, followed by the trilogy match against Golovkin.
Reynoso no longer talking about Ilunga Makabu
Thankfully, Reynoso seems to have given up on his strange idea of having Canelo move up to cruiserweight to take on WBC champion Ilunga Makabu for a fifth division world title. That was arguably a wacky idea that Reynoso had about wanting Canelo to move up to cruiserweight to face Makabu.
It’s believed that the networks weren’t interested in televising a match between Canelo and the little-known 34-year-old Makabu because they recognized that there would be zero fan interest in this albatross-level fight.
In 2021, Canelo got his way fighting his old sparring partner Avni Yildirim on DAZN as part of his contract with them. Still, now that the Mexican star is a free agent, he needs to fight quality opposition to interest the networks.
The networks aren’t in the business of televising flops involving Canelo fighting poor opposition that the boxing public has no interest in watching.
If Canelo & Reynoso wished to please the fans in 2022, they can’t go wrong with Jermall Charlo, Golovkin, and David Benavidez. Those are the ‘Big Three’ fans want to see Canelo fight in 2022.
The fans are NOT interested in seeing Canelo fight Makabu or any of the obscure fighters that they’ve never heard of before.
