Because the deadline approaches for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to announce his subsequent combat, one urgent element was clarified on Monday.
If the Mexican desires to return to combat on Mexican Independence weekend, he gained’t be in pay-per-view competitors with Conor McGregor.
The UFC’s president Dana White advised BoxingScene on Monday that the favored former two-division champion McGregor won’t be positioned on the UFC’s debut card on the Las Vegas Sphere on September 14.
Whereas boxing and UFC followers typically stay loyal to their respective preventing disciplines, the potential for fight and mainstream sports activities followers to have their funding divided was raised whereas each McGregor and Alvarez plotted their subsequent combat dates.
In a nod to maximizing pay-per-view buys, Alvarez beforehand allowed a 2019 UFC predominant occasion to complete earlier than he took to the ring that evening and stopped the then-light-heavyweight-champion Sergey Kovalev.
McGregor bowed out of his deliberate June 29 UFC predominant occasion with a damaged toe, and there was hypothesis that he might additional enhance the intrigue over the Sphere card by returning there for his first combat since July 2021. McGregor’s return date stays unfinalized.
White has touted the Sphere occasion as probably the most interesting his group has ever staged on the cinematic venue that has already hosted a U2 residency. By the way, one other, by the Eagles, is coming in September.
He additionally stated that he expects to announce the UFC’s September 14 predominant occasion “quickly.”
A boxing official linked to talks with Alvarez stated that the undisputed super-middleweight champion has mentioned three dates – September 7, September 14 and early October – and is more than likely going to carry his subsequent combat to Vegas.
By stepping into September, Alvarez will increase his possibilities of making a 3rd combat this 12 months amid rumors in boxing circles that he might carry a showdown towards Terence Crawford to the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, late within the fourth quarter of 2024.
That card, in response to a boxing business official, can be influenced by Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, whose Riyadh Season can be sponsoring the August 3 card in LA on the downtown LAFC soccer stadium.
A person near Crawford advised BoxingScene on Monday that the unbeaten three-division champion understands that his August 3 win a world title in a fourth division, towards the WBA junior-middleweight champion Israil Madrimov, can be a reside audition to show himself worthy of a shot at Alvarez, who turns 34 on Thursday.
The person stated that he sees Alvarez as a extra seemingly subsequent opponent for Crawford than Jaron “Boots” Ennis, and added that the expectation is that Alvarez is basing his choice on Crawford on how the August 3 predominant occasion performs out.
“I’m certain [Alvarez] will” be watching, the person stated.
Alvarez’s supervisor and coach Eddy Reynoso advised BoxingScene earlier than Alvarez’s victory on Cinco de Mayo weekend over Jaime Munguia that he expects to work once more, for his subsequent combat, with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions and Amazon Prime Video pay-per-view.
The believed entrance runner for Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) is his World Boxing Affiliation necessary challenger Edgar Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) – an unbeaten power-puncher from Brooklyn offering the mandatory Puerto Rican ancestry to revive the Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry and to carry a method ripe for an all-action combat, and sure a knockout.
Alvarez is believed to have struck an settlement to postpone his extra urgent necessary towards the IBF’s primary contender William Scull, of Cuba. British middleweight Chris Eubank Jr has additionally been in discussions for the following Alvarez combat.
