Canelo Alvarez is working towards an agreement for a December fight against WBA super-middleweight champion Callum Smith for a fight on DAZN at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. ESPN Deportes says that Canelo and Callum have already reached an agreement for the December fight.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn told Mike Coppinger that talks are taking place for the Canelo-Smith fight. There’s still no agreement, but they’re optimistic the fight will get made soon.
There is risk involved for the 5’8″ Canelo in taking on the tall 6’3″ Callum Smith, as he’ll be giving away a lot of size and power. Callum is a huge puncher, and he likes to throw to the body, which is a weak spot for Canelo. The Mexican star can take headshots well but not punches to the body.
The fans on social media are excited at Canelo’s prospects fighting the 30-year-old Callum Smith, as they view this as a competitive match. Before Callum’s controversial 12 round decision win over John Ryder last November, he was viewed as the best in the 168lb division.
Since that fight, it’s hard to say how good Callum is because Ryder showed that he’s vulnerable against fighters that pressure him and keep the action close.
That might be why Canelo is interested in fighting Callum because he would be able to smother his offense by staying on the inside and pounding him with short punches to the head and body. The light-hitting Ryder did a lot of damage to Callum by staying in close and landing many shots last November.
For Canelo, this could be the first of three to four fights against Matchroom fighters. Other Hearn fighters we could soon see Canelo fighting are from this small group: John Ryder, Billy Joe Saunders, and Gennadiy Golovkin.
One benefit of Canelo facing Ryder, Saunders, and Callum Smith is he wouldn’t have to worry about selling the fights on pay-per-view. With those three signed with Matchroom and fighting on DAZN, Canelo won’t need to bother PPV.
If he did, it could be a disaster for Canelo against those three. Callum, Saunders, and Ryder are well known in the UK, but they’re not household names in the U.S among casual boxing fans.
There’s a lot of interest still from U.S fan in seeing Canelo fight Golovkin, but that’s still a match that may prove to be difficult to make. If Golovkin continues to look bad, it might not be worth it for Canelo to fight him again.
Caleb Plant was recently mentioned as a possible opponent for Canelo to fight on December 19th, but the negotiations failed to produce a fight.
Plant (20-0, 12 KOs) is with Premier Boxing Champions, which means Canelo would need to fight him on pay-per-view for him to make a lot of money.
Caleb, 28, is unquestionably a better fighter than Callum, Saunders, Ryder, and Golovkin. If Canelo fought Plant, he might lose. Hence, Canelo won’t be fighting Plant in December.