Canelo Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs) isn’t ruling out a mega-fight with welterweight champion Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence if the Mexican superstar completes his goal becoming the undisputed champion at super middleweight in 2021.
Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) has expressed interest in the recent past of going up to middleweight to take on Canelo.
For the fight to take place, Canelo would need to come down in weight from 168 to 160, as it would be a farce if the 147-pounder Spence had to go up three divisions to face Alvarez at super middleweight.
Spence is a Texas native, and he could count on bringing in his fans from that state to help fill the Cowboys Stadium for a fight with Canelo, who is also popular in that state.
Canelo, 30, wants to make history by becoming the first fighter to win all four titles at 168, and he’s within the grasp of achieving that dream.
Alvarez only needs to beat WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders on May 8th and IBF champion Caleb Plant in September to become the undisputed champ.
“We’ll see, we’ll see after everything,” Alvarez said to DAZN News about the possibility of him taking on Spence at 160 after he completes his mission to unify the 168-lb division.
“Like I say, we have this goal to be undisputed at 168, and then we don’t know.”
Once Canelo finishes unifying the super middleweight division, his options will be for fights against Gennadiy Golovkin, David Benavidez, Edgar Berlanga, Jermall Charlo, and Demetrius Andrade.
Those will be tough matches for Canelo, and he may not want to jump straight into a hard fight after he finishes his job of unifying the 168lb division this year.
Spence will be a good option for Canelo if he wants to attract a lot of attention from the boxing world, as he’s arguably more popular than any of the 160 or 168-lb fighters.
The 39-year-old Golovkin used to be popular, but he’s stalled out his career since his loss to Canelo in 2018 and has been spinning his wheels, choosing to take lesser fighters.
It’s too bad that Golovkin has stopped taking risks with his career, but that’s a good thing for Spence. It helps him get the fight he wants against Canelo after he finishes unifying the super middleweight division.
Spence was in attendance for Canelo’s fight against former WBA super-middleweight champion Callum Smith last December at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It was there that he expressed interest in facing Canelo soon.
“Yes, I saw [Spence],” said Canelo. “I’m very grateful that he was here, but the reality is we have other goals right now. We have the goals of the 168-pound titles.”
“Well, it’s important for me because it’s part of making history in my career,” said Canelo about his goal of unifying the 168-lb division in 2021. I’m the second Mexican to be in the pound-for-pound (rankings],” said Canelo.
The boxing public is more interested in watching Canelo fight Spence than they are in seeing him beat two belt-holders in Saunders and Plant. Those fighters don’t have large fan bases, and many people view them both as ‘paper champions’ because they didn’t beat talented fighters to win their belts.
For example, Saunders won his WBO super middleweight title, defeating an unknown German fighter named Shefat Isufi. It was a gimme fight for Saunders. In Plant’s case, he beat the badly flawed Jose Uzcategui to win his IBF title.
The fans want to see Canelo take at 168 are against David Benavidez, Edgar Berlanga, and Dimitry Bivol. As such, Canelo won’t gain anything by unifying the 168-lb division in 2021 because fans don’t rate Saunders and Plant.
It would be better for Canelo to start understanding what the fans want to see because he’s showing himself to have a tin ear what they want to see.
The fans would much prefer that Canelo scrap his idea of unifying the 168-lb division and go straight into fights with Benavidez, Spence, Charlo, Golovkni, Andrade, Bivol, and Artur Beterbiev.
The way Canelo is guiding his career, he’s arguably taking safe fights against paper champions by choosing to use up 2021 fighting Saunders and Plant. It’s clever but weak.