It seems middleweight king Canelo Alvarez may well be staying put at 160 pounds for the immediate future. There was talk of the Mexican superstar making the move up to light-heavyweight and a challenge of Sergey Kovalev, but with the Russian facing Anthony Yarde in August, Canelo has been forced to wait for this fight – one he may well still take over the coming months (assuming “Krusher” gets past British challenger Yarde okay).
Now it seems there is a good chance Canelo will fulfil his IBF middleweight title mandatory requirements and face Sergiy Derevyanchenko in his next fight. As per a story from The Los Angeles Times, DAZN, Canelo’s exclusive streaming partner, approved the Ukrainian as an opponent and the date being talked about as a possibility is October 26th, the venue The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It will prove interesting how fans react if this fight is indeed made official. The big one we all want – and what DAZN wanted, to the exclusion of any other fight for Canelo aside from one with Kovalev – is that third fight between Canelo and Gennady Golovkin. That big fight will not happen, not here in 2019 anyway.
So can Derevyanchenko, 13-1(10), beaten only by common opponent Danny Jacobs, give Canelo a great fight; can he even beat him? The styles of the two men should mesh well, with both being aggressive and liking the inside stuff. Canelo, if the fight is made, will of course be a big favourite to win, but the fight could well prove to be an action bout. 33 year old Derevyanchenko hasn’t had that many pro fights, but he was an amateur standout, having had over 400 amateur fights and boxing at the 2008 Olympics.
Canelo via decision looks a good call.
But then what? Will Canelo look to defend his middleweight titles in 2020 and beyond, or will that move up to 175 appeal to him far more? And just who might GGG fight next? Will we ever see that third super-fight between Canelo and Triple-G?