Canelo Alvarez, the pleasure of Guadalajara and one in all boxing’s most formidable champions stands at a vital juncture in his illustrious profession. Having conquered a number of weight lessons and solidified his standing as a pound-for-pound king, the query on everybody’s thoughts is: who ought to the Mexican star struggle subsequent? Nevertheless, his most up-to-date conflict failed and ended up being considerably of a disappointment.
With a plethora of tantalizing choices accessible to him, the reigning undisputed tremendous middleweight king opted for a bout towards unheralded compatriot Jaime Munguia in a conflict that did little to whet the urge for food. Admittedly the 27-year-old was unbeaten in 43 bouts earlier than the competition nonetheless, essentially the most recognizable names on his resume got here within the type of 37-year-old Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Britain’s John Ryder, who was comfortably dispatched by Canelo seven months prior.
The most recent boxing betting at Bovada odds made boxing’s pay-per-view king an enormous -500 betting favourite to retain his crown, and he duly delivered, comfortably successful a shutout unanimous choice. Now, nonetheless, consideration has turned to what’s subsequent, and the strain is being positioned on Canelo to struggle a reputable opponent. So, we’ve picked out three males he ought to contemplate dealing with subsequent if he desires to keep away from the critics and solidify his legacy.David Benavidez
David Benavidez
In fact, the struggle that the boxing world is now clamoring for – and has been for a while – is a mouthwatering matchup towards the large David Benavidez. Nicknamed The Monster and for good purpose, the 27-year-old has lengthy been seen as Canelo’s hardest problem but. He has been the apparent option to battle it out for all of the gold at 168 kilos for a while, and dominant back-to-back victories over former champions Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade have solely strengthened his declare.
He’s the present interim WBC champion, and a unification conflict needs to be on the horizon. Nevertheless, Canelo has different concepts. Regardless of the strain ramping up on him to lastly agree on a struggle with the Arzona-born star, the present king seemingly desires no a part of it. His latest assertion saying that it could require $200m to face off with Benavidez solely strengthens the argument that he’s ducking his potential nemesis.
A struggle between Canelo and Benavidez could be a conflict of two Mexican warriors, every with one thing to show. For the previous, it could be a possibility to silence critics questioning his dominance at tremendous middleweight. For the latter, it’s the possibility to dethrone the king set up himself because the premier fighter within the division, and bag himself the tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} that include it. His aggressive type, highly effective combos, and granite chin make him a big risk to anybody he faces, whereas standing at 6’1″ and with a attain benefit, he would convey physicality into the ring that Canelo could also be unable to deal with.
Dmitry Bivol
Solely two males have crushed Canelo all through his storied profession. One in all them is Floyd Mayweather, who picked aside a youthful model of the Mexican again in 2013. The opposite is Russia’s reigning WBA gentle heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, who handed him a uncommon defeat of their earlier encounter in Could 2022.
With Alvarez going up in weight, many anticipated him to handily defeat the undefeated former novice star just like how he did together with his compatriot Sergei Kovalev two and a half years prior. However Bivol had different concepts.
His technical proficiency, footwork, and disciplined jab proved an excessive amount of for Canelo, who struggled to impose his will as he had finished beforehand, regardless of the step up in weight. The Mexican tried to lure Bivol in repeatedly nonetheless, the champion remained disciplined and continued to pepper away from the surface en path to a lopsided choice victory. And within the two years since their conflict, he has continued to rack up victories.
Gilberto Ramírez, Lyndon Arthur, and Malik Zinad have all stepped up and have all been despatched packing. Now, followers are awaiting a blockbuster unification struggle between Bivol and fellow Russian Arthur Beterbiev. Nevertheless, ought to Canelo come calling for a rematch with hundreds of thousands of {dollars} on the road, that unification conflict will certainly must be placed on the again burner as soon as extra.
A Canelo-Bivol rematch carries vital narrative and the intrigue lies in whether or not Canelo can crack the Bivol code. Followers love redemption story, and this struggle gives simply that for the Mexican ace. Nevertheless, if he’s defeated as soon as extra, absolutely that may depart a stain on his legacy like no different.
Terence Crawford
Terence Crawford, the previous undisputed welterweight champion solidified his standing as the perfect pound-for-pound fighter on the planet when he viciously knocked out Errol Spence Jr. final July to assert all of the gold at 147 kilos.
Within the yr since his legacy-making victory, the alphabet belts have been cut up up, with Mario Barrios claiming the WBC strap and Jaron Ennis securing IBF gold. However for “Bud,” he now has his eyes on profitable matchups, and so they don’t come far more profitable than dealing with off with Canelo.
A Canelo-Crawford struggle transcends conventional weight class boundaries, making a spectacle round two of the game’s finest abilities. It’s a legacy-defining transfer for the welterweight star, testing his expertise towards a much bigger, stronger opponent.
For his potential opponent, it’s a possibility to additional cement his standing by defeating one other pound-for-pound nice. Nevertheless, ought to he select this feature, he’ll are available in for loads of criticism and face a a lot smaller man as soon as once more, simply as he did final September when he confronted and beat Jermell Charlo.
