Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is in camp and preparing to defend to his undisputed super middleweight champion status against Jermell Charlo on September 20, but has declared he is “always ready” to fight.
Charlo is moving up two divisions to take on this challenge in a move that is reminiscent of Canelo’s own adventures moving up and down the weight classes. Having won titles at super welterweight he has since gone as far as light heavyweight to claim world honours.,
This will be the first time Charlo has made such weight gains, and in fact, coach Derrick James has said he doesn’t actually think his man will get all the way up to the 168lbs fighting limit.
Charlo has not fought since May 2022 when he retained his four super welterweight world titles with a 10th-round stoppage of Brian Carlos Castano having drawn with the same man in July of 2021.
Last time out, Canelo went 12 rounds with Brit John Ryder to retain his undisputed world titles. Although the cards were unanimous in his favour, fans speculated that a prime Canelo would have got Ryder out of there and that maybe the Mexican is now past his peak.
Perhaps with those critics in mind, Canelo has released a short video clip on Twitter this week. After slamming the pad held by trainer Eddie Reynoso, Canelo walks towards the camera and unleashes a threat in his best English.
“Let me tell you one thing, I don’t need to get ready because I’m always ready, motherf***ers!”
‼️ Canelo Alvarez with a strong message on Instagram today: “I don’t need to get ready because I’m always ready motherf***ers.”
[🎥 @Canelo] pic.twitter.com/ooidoTNrIH
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) July 18, 2023
After many years of media reticence, Canelo has come out of his shell more and more in recent years as this latest video shows.