Eddie Hearn revealed today that the winner of the May 21st WBA light-heavyweight title eliminator between #3 Joshua Buatsi and #7 Craig Richards could be the December opponent for Canelo Alvarez should he defeat WBA 175-lb champion Dmitry Bivol on May 7th.
According to Hearn, if Canelo captures the WBA title from Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs), the Buatsi-Richards winner could be his December opponent.
Canelo wants to fight in London or Guadalajara in December, and his options are as follows:
- Ilunga Makabu – WBC cruiserweight champion
- John Ryder – WBA super-middleweight mandatory
- Joshua Buatsi
- Craig Richards
Buatsi (15-0, 13 KOs) is expected to beat former world title challenger Richards (17-2-1, 10 KOs) on May 21st, but you never know. Richards can punch about as hard as Buatsi, and he gave Bivol a heck of a tough test last year in May 2021, losing a close 12 round unanimous decision.
Besides needing to beat Bivol on May 7th, Canelo has a tough potential trilogy match against Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th that he needs to get out of the way before he can look towards fighting the Buatsi vs. Richards winner in December.
“Well, Canelo Alvarez wants to fight in the UK. We’ve got this deal with him now where he fights Bivol. If he’s successful and Gennadiy Golovkin wins [against Ryota Murata on April 9th], we’ll do Canelo against Golovkin in September,” said Eddie Hearn to TalkSport Boxing.
“Canelo Alvarez and Eddy Reynoso both want to fight in December. 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].
“Both guys are great options and great opponents for Canelo Alvarez in December. So there’s a lot that has got to go right for everybody, but if Canelo Alvarez wants to fight in London in December, which we’re told that he would like to explore that option, the winner of this fight is a clear frontrunner because this is an official [WBA 168-lb] eliminator for the winner of Canelo against Bivol.
“So massive opportunity for the winner of this fight, and I would certainly love to bring Canelo Alvarez to the UK,” said Hearn.
John Ryder wouldn’t be nearly as interesting an option for Canelo to fight in December than Buatsi or Richards. Those guys have the power and size to keep Canelo honest.
Hearn isn’t saying who he wants Canelo to fight in December, but he seemed pretty animated when he was mentioning Buatsi’s name.