By Barry Holbrook: Canelo Alvarez wants to fight in London or Guadalajara in December, according to Eddie Hearn. The Mexican star Canelo has four options for his December fight, which would be his third in 2022.
It makes sense for Canelo to fight three times this year, as his take would be $160 million as part of his deal with Matchroom Boxing & DAZN.
The options are as follows: Joshua Buatsi vs. Craig Richards winner, John Ryder or Ilunga Makabu.
Although Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) still has his May 7th fight against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol and a possible September 17th trilogy against his old nemesis Gennady Golovkin, he’s obviously assuming he’ll win both of those fights.
It’s believed that if Canelo chooses to fight in Guadalajara in December instead of London, his opponent would be WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu (29-2, 25 KOs) because it would be senseless to take that fight to the UK.
Fighting the 34-year-old Makabu will give Canelo the chance to capture his fifth division world title, and cement his legacy in the sport.
There won’t be much interest from boxing fans worldwide in seeing Canelo fight Makabu, but it would be an easy sure-thing win for the Mexican star after what will likely be two grueling matches this year against Bivol and Golovkin.
The far tougher fight for Canelo in December would be to come to London to take on the unbeaten 2016 Olympian Buatsi (15-0, 13 KOs), who is a huge puncher and would be looking to KO the Mexican star with every shot.
#3 WBA Buatsi and #7 Richards will be fighting in a WBA 175-lb title eliminator on May 21st. The winner of the fight will be the mandatory challenger to the winner of the Canelo vs. Bivol fight on May 7th.
If Canelo beat WBA champion Bivol, the responsibility of defending the belt against the Buatsi-Richards winner would fall on his shoulders.
“Canelo Alvarez and Eddy Reynoso both want to fight in December,” said Eddie Hearn to TalkSport Boxing. “They’ve asked me to look at options for Guadalajara and London,” Hearn continued. “You’ve got John Ryder, who is [WBA] mandatory at 168 pounds and you’ve got the winner of this fight [Buatsi vs. Richards],” said Hearn.
Canelo could choose to face his WBA super-middleweight mandatory Ryder in December in London. That would probably be the easiest option for Canelo because Ryder has very little power, and there wouldn’t be as much of a risk for him as there would be if he fought Buatsi, Richards, or Makabu.
It’s still early yet and it doesn’t make sense for Canelo to be looking past WBA champion Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) or Golovkin. Those are tough fights for Canelo, and he could lose either of them.