Canelo Says He was Blindsided By Reynoso’s Cruiserweight Request

Not even Canelo Alvarez apparently knew that a leap up to the cruiserweight ranks was in the cards for his career.

On the heels of unifying the 168-pound division on Nov. 6 with a stoppage over Caleb Plant, Alvarez shocked the boxing world a few weeks later when his longtime trainer and manager Eddy Reynoso petitioned the WBC to allow his charge to fight for a title in the cruiserweight division. The WBC summarily approved the request, sending shockwaves throughout the industry.

Alvarez, it turns out, was just as taken aback as anyone else.

“I didn’t even know about that,” Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) told World Boxing News. “I heard about it on social media what Eddy did.”

Alvarez, who has amassed titles at 154, 160, 168, and 175, noted, however, that he is more than willing to take on any challenge his trainer comes up with – however ambitious they may be.

“Like I always say,” Alvarez continued, “if Eddy says something or he tries to do something crazy, I’m always in. I’m his warrior.”

“He called me after [the announcement], and I said, ‘OK, whatever you want. I never thought (about cruiserweight). Eddy always is thinking about things, but I never thought about it.”

The cruiserweight limit is 200 pounds; Alvarez has campaigned mostly in and around the 160-pound mark for the majority of his career.

Reynoso specifically requested a cruiserweight title fight against hard-hitting Congolese southpaw Ilunga Makabu, who holds the WBC’s cruiserweight trinket and who has strung together nine straight wins ever since his knockout loss to Tony Bellew in 2016.

Alvarez, however, cautioned that the fight is far from being a done deal. Alvarez is a free agent, while Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs) is promoted by Don King. Moreover, Makabu has more immediate business to take care of. He is scheduled to face Thabiso Mchunu (23-5, 13 KOs) on Jan. 29 at the Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio, in a rematch of their 2015 tussle, which Makabu won by 11th round technical knockout. WBC head Mauricio Sulaiman has indicated that the winner of this bout will go on to face Alvarez.

“It’s not done yet,” Alvarez said of his potential foray into cruiserweight territory. “We want to see, we want to try to do it, but it’s not done yet. So we will see in January what is coming for us.”