An already RIPPED and shredded Canelo Alvarez is putting in the hard work getting ready for his September 12 fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. The current two-division world champion Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs), posted a short video clip on Wednesday of him working out in his trainer Eddy Reynoso’s gym in San Diego.
Canelo showed off his power, speed, and lethal-looking uppercuts in hitting the bag. He looked good for a fighter that hasn’t fought since last November.
We still don’t have a name yet for who will be facing the 29-year-old Mexican star Canelo on September 12. Billy Joe Saunders, the WBO super-middleweight champion, WAS supposed to be the opponent for Canelo for May 2, but the fight was canceled due to the pandemic.
Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) is still a possible option for Canelo, but not likely unless he’s willing to agree to the financial terms. Where we could have a problem with Saunders is he might be expecting the same amount of money that was offered to him BEFORE the pandemic.
That’s probably not going to be possible, especially if Canelo’s next fight takes place behind closed doors. It won’t be a big deal if Saunders isn’t the one that Canelo faces in September because only a small fraction of the fans wanted to see this fight.
Essentially, Saunders was another softball opponent being lobbed to Canelo, and not someone that would put the Mexican star at risk of losing. For Canelo to be at risk, he would need to fight one of these guys: Artur Beterbiev, Caleb Plant, Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, David Benavidez, Callum Smith or Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Gennadiy Golovkin has already said he won’t be fighting Canelo in September because he’s got a title defense against a fighter named Kamil Szeremeta. He’s an unknown guy that the Internation Boxing Federation ranked in their top 15 for some reason. Szeremeta isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the other three governing bodies’ rankings, which tells you a lot about his qualifications to be fighting for a title.
It’s believed that the opponent that Canelo ultimately faces in September will be the one that Golden Boy can get at a bargain basement discount price. We’re probably talking about a lower-level guy that is technically a contender at 160 or 168, but not someone with ability.
We haven’t seen take a lot of risky fights other than the Golovkin match, but he didn’t fight him until he was 35-years-old. Even then, we saw a controversial decision with their first fight in 2017.
Given the financial situation of Canelo likely fighting behind closed doors for his September match, it’s possible that these guys could be the pool that Golden Boy chooses from:
- Anthony Dirrell
- David Lemieux
- Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan
- Jamie Munguia
It would make a lot of boxing fans happy if Canelo fought someone like David Benavidez, Plant, Derevyanchenko, Charlo, or Andrade. Those would be guys that would at least have a shot at beating Canelo. They don’t want to see Canelo fight another old guy like Sergey Kovalev, who looked a lot older than his chronological age of 36 last November.
In an ideal world, Canelo would surprise his fans by agreeing to face IBF/WBC light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) to show them that he didn’t duck him last November. But that might be asking too much for Canelo to face the #1 fighter at 175.
Beterbiev has an excellent inside game, and he would welcome Canelo taking the match in close to throw body shots. Beterbiev wouldn’t back away under Canelo’s pressure like Golovkin did in their second fight.