Hamzah Sheeraz calls for Canelo Alvarez if WBO title is won

Sheeraz names Canelo as target ahead of WBO title fight with Begic, offering Alvarez another route at 168

Canelo Alvarez already has a second title route waiting at 168, and Hamzah Sheeraz has now openly put himself in line for it.

Alvarez lost his super middleweight titles to Terence Crawford in September, and the division has since split across multiple sanctioning bodies. That has left him in a position to move quickly if one of those title paths opens up at the right time.

One of those routes runs through the WBO, where Canelo is currently ranked #1 and could step straight into a title fight depending on how the situation develops over the next few weeks.

The WBO has ordered Hamzah Sheeraz and Alem Begic to fight for the vacant belt on May 23 in Egypt. The winner would immediately become a target for anyone looking to move quickly into the title picture, and Canelo fits that position.

“That fight there, if that fight ever happens, that is down to His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh]. If he wants it to happen, it will happen. I would love to share the ring with a great in Canelo, and if it happens, it happens,” said Sheeraz to The Ring.

Christian Mbilli still stands as the most direct option as WBC champion, but that fight depends on timing and agreement. The WBO route, by contrast, offers a cleaner path if a deal is not reached. Canelo is expected to challenge Mbilli for his WBC belt in September, and not going in the direction of the WBO that Sheeraz is fighting for.

Sheeraz has not yet won the belt, but he is already naming Canelo as a target, which signals how quickly that fight could be put together if circumstances allow.

Calling out Canelo is the ultimate no-lose play for Hamzah. If he gets the fight, he makes career-high money. If he loses, he lost to a legend, and his stock stays relatively high. But if he fights Mbilli or IBF champion Osleys Iglesias and gets knocked out, the future star hype train reaches a dead stop.

By the time May 23 rolls around, Sheeraz will likely be holding that WBO belt, and the narrative will shift to Canelo vs. the new champion, completely bypassing the fact that he hasn’t actually beaten a top-tier 168-pounder yet.

Canelo is not short of options at 168, and he does not look far from another title shot, whichever route he chooses.