Following his win over John Ryder last month, speculation has been rife with regards to who Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will take on next.
Many had thought a rematch with Dmitriy Bivol was the frontrunner for the Mexican’s next fight, with the likes of Eddie Hearn repeatedly mentioning the Russian as the man Canelo wanted to take on.
However, it has quickly become clear a second fight between the pair was unlikely to be next, with a dispute over weight thought to be a major stumbling block in negotiations. Hearn recently confirmed that the light-heavyweight champion rejected an initial offer for the fight.
And, in an interview with IFL TV, Hearn revealed he has been led to believe a fight between Alvarez and current WBC middleweight world champion Jermall Charlo is now in the works instead.
“Charlo looks like the frontrunner for that fight. We haven’t been able to deliver the Bivol fight, and I expect the Charlo fight to progress now, but we’ll see how the next couple of days go.”
Charlo has been a world champion at 160lbs since 2019, having already picked up the IBF strap at light middleweight in his earlier career.
Though ‘Hit Man’ is undefeated after 32 fights, he has never faced anyone at the level of four weight world champion Canelo and will likely need a career best performance if he is to capture the Guadalajara icon’s undisputed super middleweight crown, should the fight be next.
His defeat to Bivol was Canelo’s first loss in almost a decade and, although there is a view that he may be slightly on the decline, a dominant win over Ryder last month showed that he is still the man to beat at 168lbs.