Hamzah Sheeraz still hopes he can one day fight Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, even though the Mexican legend’s activity has waned considerably since his prime years, following a 12-round loss via decision to Terence Crawford at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, last year.
Canelo is skipping a Cinco de Mayo event this year, with David Benavidez and Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez vying for Mexican supremacy on one of boxing’s key dates, this year on May 2, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
But Canelo will return for a show against a to-be-determined opponent atop a Mexican Independence Day weekend card, in September.
He is yet to secure an opponent. Sheeraz is holding out that it could be him.
“It would be nice to get Canelo still,” Sheeraz told The Ring. “And obviously it would be far more lucrative if I do win the world title before that.”
A 26-year-old fighter, Sheeraz continues to level up through the years, building off wins over the likes of Bradley Skeete and Austin Williams to split a draw with Carlos Adames in 2025 before finishing Edgar Berlanga in the fifth round last year, too.
He returns to the ring on May 23 on the Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven undercard, fighting Alem Begic for the vacant WBO middleweight belt at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
Sheeraz is relying on winning and Canelo still wanting to become an undisputed champion again so that their worlds can collide.
“Maybe we will end up fighting for all the belts after all. I feel like that fight can definitely flourish in the future.”
— Hamzah Sheeraz on Canelo Alvarez
Other fighters at 168 pounds include Osleys Iglesias, Jermall Charlo, and Jaime Munguia, among others, and Sheeraz says he’d happily go down the rankings to secure another suitable challenger because the division “is booming now.”
He said: “There are lots of name, lots of champions and in an ideal world, I’d like to pick up this belt and then go for a unification straight away. I’d like to try and do that as fast as I can.
“From a boxer’s perspective, it’s easy to go from one unification to the next, but the reality is it’s much more complicated to make these fights.
“But, God willing, I can get my hands on the first one and then just go from there. I can only control what I do.”
