Canelo Alvarez has five options in play for his next fight on May 4th, most of which are ones that the boxing public won’t be interested in paying to see.
The guy that Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) is interested in defending his undisputed super middleweight championship against next, Jermall Charlo, has already been shot down as an option that PBC is interested in paying for the May 4th date.
This writer views Terence Crawford as the best option for Canelo, but that match-up isn’t appealing to the Mexican star for obvious reasons. Alvarez just fought a fighter from the 154-lb weight class, Jermell Charlo, in his last fight, and he received no credit for beating him soundly last September.
Ranking Canelo’s Next Big Fight
1. David Benavidez: Fans overwhelmingly want to see Canelo face Benavidez next, viewing it as an exciting match-up, resulting in the superstar being dethroned by the younger and much bigger ‘Mexican Monster.’ The money isn’t there for Canelo to take this fight. He’s not going to face a cruiserweight-sized Benavidez if he’s going to be making chump change, so this match-up is highly unlikely to happen on May 4th, if ever.
Hardcore boxing fans see Benavidez as a weight bully, a cruiserweight fighter in reality, but he is still young enough to melt down enormous amounts of weight to gain an advantage against smaller foes.
Unfortunately, we see that a lot in the sport, with younger fighters melting down 20+ lbs to compete against smaller opposition and then rehydrating rapidly overnight to squash their opponents.
Without strict rehydration limits set in place, this dangerous practice will continue. Can Benavidez beat fighters his size, like Jai Opetaia and Oleksandr Usyk? Probably not, but that could be why he melts down to compete at 168 against smaller opposition.
2. Terence Crawford: What makes Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) an excellent choice is that it would involve a match between two undisputed champions nearing the end of their careers.
The drawback for this fight is that Canelo wouldn’t receive credit if he wins, given that Crawford is a welterweight and would be coming up with three weight classes to face him. It would be viewed as another example of Canelo selecting a smaller fighter rather than facing the killers from the 168-lb weight class.
Crawford is a good fighter, but has never fought at super middleweight and has shown no desire to move up and prove himself against one of the killers, like David Morrell, to earn the shot against Canelo.
3. Jermall Charlo: If Canelo gets his way, he’ll be fighting Jermall next, but it’ll be a PPV disaster, likely as bad as Alvarez’s recent matches against Jermell and John Ryder.
4. Jaime Munguia: The unbeaten Munguia, with his inflated record of cans, would be a decent choice if Canelo hadn’t already ruled out fighting a Mexican fighter for the May 4th date. As such, Munguia doesn’t enter the sweepstakes to get the Canelo payday. Munguia has such a poor resume, though, and he’d crumble if given a chance to fight Canelo.
5. Edgar Berlanga: Easily the worst of the five, Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) is completely undeserving of a fight against Canelo due to the way he’s bypassed all the dangerous contenders to throw his name in the hat for the May 4th date.
If Berlanga had fought David Morrell Jr, Diego Pacheco, Caleb Plant, Jaime Munguia, or David Benavidez, he and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, would have had a good argument about being deserving of a fight with Canelo.
Berlanga hasn’t done that. He’s taken the backdoor approach to try and get the fight, facing Irish fighters Padraig McCrory and Jason Quigley to keep from getting beaten. What he’s done is utterly pathetic and transparent.