If Not Plant, Who Does Canelo Alvarez Fight Next?

Who’s next on the menu for Canelo?

(clockwise from center) Unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, WBA Super light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, David Benavidez, unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade, WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin
(clockwise from center) Saul Alvarez, Dmitry Bivol, David Benavidez, Artur Beterbiev, Demetrius Andrade, Jermall Charlo, Gennady Golovkin

Who’s next on the menu for Canelo?


Unfortunately for him, WBA Super, WBO and WBC World super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KO’s) will have to wait for his bout for undisputed. His would-be historic showdown with IBF World super middleweight champion Caleb “Sweethands” Plant (21-0, 12 KO’s) is off. At this point, it hasn’t been revealed what caused the fight negotiations to unravel. A large segment of fans would assume that it had something to do with Plant.

Sweethands passed on the fight once due to it being too short notice and later he would demand $10 million to sign off. Some viewed this as him being difficult. Understanding the perception that might be out there, Caleb Plant quickly went on the offensive and told his half of the story. The IBF champ took to his social media to make it plain and clear that he was compliant with all of the redhead’s demands. Yet, while he told what he did agree to, Plant neglected to explain what killed the talks.

LOOKING DOWN AT UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Regardless of why the fight is not taking place, the next order of business is determining the next battle for Canelo. He certainly will want to maintain the September fight date and collect his $40 million+ bounty. If Team Canelo looks down to middleweight, they will no doubt have luck facing IBF 160 pound champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KO’s). The Kazakhstani fighter has been itching worse than some dirty wool boxer-briefs aching for this trilogy bout. Both fighters work with DAZN and GGG doesn’t technically have a fight signed. Golovkin was planning a December unification bout with WBA Super 160-pound champion Ryota Murata though. Yet, for Canelo he’d very likely change his plans.

WBC World middleweight champion Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (32-0, 22 KO’s) would be another eager candidate to match wits with the boxing cash cow. Before his exodus from the 160-pound division, Canelo versus Charlo was a very desired and talked about prizefight. It’s a fight that has an excellent chance of being a great dustup and financial success.

The only potential hiccups here are the fact that Charlo just fought June 19 against Juan Montiel. Not only that, the Hit Man broke his hand in that contest. So there is no guarantee that he could be ready even if he got the call. Technically speaking, there is also WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade (30-0, 18 KO’s). He has chased Canelo longer than anyone. Sadly, Alvarez seems to hate Andrade more than Gizmo hates cold showers. This bout appears destined never to happen.

RELATED: Canelo Alvarez Dismisses Demetrius Andrade: “Get The Fuck Out Of Here”

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

If Canelo is not going to face Caleb Plant, obviously he will not stage any title unification at super middleweight. This is not to say that there is not a substantial alternative option. The next best thing to a title fight would be Alvarez versus David “Red Flag” Benavidez (24-0, 21 KO’s). There are a great many throughout the boxing populace that believe Benavidez is still the de facto WBC champion. Red Flag lost his super middleweight belt to the scale and not in the ring. This is why many felt that the WBC simply handed the belt over to the redhead. If Canelo was to face Benavidez, it would be something of an unofficial title fight. There is no question that each man would garner great credit for taking on the assignment.

LOOKING UP TO GREATNESS

If Alvarez was aiming to shoot for greatness, he might even look to light heavyweight competition. The notion is not far-fetched. Canelo already took on and knocked out Sergey Kovalev at light heavyweight. Yet, when he collected that scalp and his WBO title, many accused the redhead of taking on the weakest champion available. If he was to fight either IBF and WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (16-0, 16 KO’s) or WBA Super 175-pound champion Dmitry Bivol (18-0, 11 KO’s), this could not be said.

The hard-hitting Russian Beterbiev not only has a perfect record, he has finished every one of his opponents within the distance. He also has two belts so, if victorious, the redhead would hold five straps across two divisions. Earlier this year there were rumors that Team Canelo contacted Beterbiev for a fight. While talking about this rumor, Beterbiev displayed great interest in accepting the bout.

The aggressively technical Bivol would be another significant hurdle to hope for Canelo. In the end though, his rigid, robotic fashion of fighting might play right into Alvarez’s wheelhouse. Even better though, neither of these Russian fighters have anything scheduled at the moment.

WHAT WILL BE WILL BE

In the end there is no telling what Team Alvarez does at this point. Without question he has a great deal of choices open to him. Or, he may double back in the ninth hour and make things work with Caleb Plant, who knows? Regardless of what the next move is, 3kingsboxing will be there to report the news!

By: Bakari Simpson

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About Bakari S.2873 Articles
Bakari is a Senior Writer for 3kingsboxing.com. Visit cheetahhead.com to view more of his literary work.