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Canelo Alvarez plans to make up for lost time – and lost money – in 2021.
The Mexican superstar told BoxingScene.com on Wednesday that he would like to fight four times during this calendar year. That would be a highly unusual level of activity for a fighter of Alvarez’s stature, but it would enable the four-division champion to regain some of the ground he lost in 2020.
“I truly wanna fight a minimum of three times this year,” Alvarez said, “but I’m always open for one more. Of course, the possibility exists for that. I’ve thought about it. Don’t believe I haven’t. I love being active.”
Competing in four fights this year would represent a remarkable change of pace for Alvarez. He has not fought more than twice in any single calendar year since 2011, when he boxed four times.
The 30-year-old Alvarez fought only once in 2020, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as his legal entanglement with DAZN and Golden Boy Promotions. He returned to the ring December 19, when he dominated England’s Callum Smith (27-1, 19 KOs) in their 12-round fight for the then-unclaimed WBC and Smith’s WBA “super” 168-pound championships.
Alvarez ended a 13-month layoff the night he beat Smith. That lengthy period of inactivity inspired Alvarez to schedule a quick turnaround for his fight against Avni Yildirim, the mandatory challenger for his WBC belt.
Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) and Turkey’s Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs) are scheduled to fight February 27, just 10 weeks after Alvarez went 12 rounds with Smith. The WBA/WBC super middleweight champion took approximately three weeks off after he beat Smith, but he didn’t mind returning to the gym soon thereafter.
“I really like being active,” Alvarez said. “I like to train, and I love to be in the gym.”
If Alvarez, who is listed as a 50-1 favorite, defeats Yildirim two weeks from Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, he is expected to battle another unbeaten Brit, Billy Joe Saunders, on May 8 at an undetermined site. An Alvarez-Saunders fight would be contested for Alvarez’s titles and Saunders’ WBO belt.
Should Alvarez defeat Saunders as well, he could box IBF champ Caleb Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) sometime in September for the only title Alvarez would need to become a fully unified super middleweight champion.
A fourth fight in 2021 likely would take place in December, which would mark a fifth fight for Alvarez over a 12-month period.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.