Promoter Eddie Hearn has teased the possibility of WBC, WBA Super and WBO super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez engaging in a fight at 175lbs this year should a planned unification with IBF king Caleb Plant fail to materialise.
Canelo and Plant have been locked in talks for an undisputed clash in September, but negotiations are not progressing as swiftly as anticipated.
The Mexican star and current promoter Hearn could review their options if an agreement cannot be made in time. Canelo has fought three times in the last seven months to establish himself as boxing’s pound-for-pound No.1 and unify three of the world super-middleweight crowns. But if negotiations with Plant continue to drag, he could look elsewhere.
”There’s conversations to be had over the next sort of three, four, or five days [with the Plant fight] and it needs to gather pace,” Hearn told the DAZN Boxing Show.
“I don’t think there’s anything negative to say about it. This is clearly the fight Canelo Alvarez wants. He wants to become undisputed champion. But at the same time, September is his date, you know, and if the Plant fight’s not available now and has to be made in December or whatever, I think Canelo’s mindset is: ‘I want to keep the momentum that I have right now’.
“And you know, let’s not forget this guy’s boxed three times in, you know, what, seven months, eight months, and it will be four flights in 10 months, which as a pound-for-pound number one in a pandemic is incredible.
“My instructions from Canelo Alvarez and [trainer/manager] Eddy Reynoso were ‘We want Caleb Plant, but if that’s not possible for September, show me the champions we can face’. Clearly, a move up to 175, for now, is also on the agenda if that undisputed fight can’t get made.”