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PHOENIX – Days after nearly sinking a hole-in-one that would have netted a six-figure bonus on the golf course, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is poised to resume his multimillion-dollar boxing career.
The sport’s pound-for-pound king and reigning undisputed super middleweight champion is expected to make a decision in the coming days regarding his next opponent for a planned May 7 ring return in celebration of the Cinco de Mayo holiday. Guadalajara’s Alvarez (57-1-2, 39KOs) has teased several options prior to briefly joining the PGA Tour for an appearance in the amateur portion of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament last week.
Among them was an offer to move up to light heavyweight for a shot at WBA champ Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11KOs). Such a fight would bring Alvarez back to DAZN and once again doing business with Matchroom Boxing.
“I think potentially is the next move. I’d love to see him fight Dmitry Bivol,” Eddie Hearn, chairman of Matchroom Sport told BoxingScene.com and other reporters during a media scrum following a DAZN event at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. “Then you got (WBO light heavyweight titlist) Joe Smith and (lineal/WBC/IBF champ) Artur Beterbiev possibly fighting each other.
“He can fight Bivol and then (with a win) fight the winner of that fight to become undisputed at light heavyweight. I would love to see him become a two-time undisputed world champion but it’s got to be something that motivates him and Eddy [Reynoso, Alvarez’s trainer and manager]. Obviously, they’ll make a decision next week.”
Alvarez enjoyed a working relationship with Matchroom for three straight fights following a 13-month layoff and very public split with Golden Boy Promotions. Wins over WBA super middleweight titlist Callum Smith, WBC mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim and WBO titlist Billy Joe Saunders all came within less than five months and with Alvarez proudly flying the Matchroom flag.
The run ended with Alvarez’s most recent fight, an eleventh-round knockout of IBF super middleweight titlist Caleb Plant last November to become the first-ever undisputed champion in the 168-pound division. The fight took place on Showtime Pay-Per-View, though with Alvarez remaining friendly with Hearn during the buildup and in the aftermath.
The depths of their bromance leaves the promoter fully understanding the timetable for Alvarez’s
“Whenever they make one,” Hearn quipped. “They’re not people you really pressure too much. They got our proposal. They got probably five proposals.
“I saw he’s playing golf. I’m not gonna get in the way when he’s playing golf. I suppose he’ll probably chill out and sit down with Eddy Reynoso next week and make a decision.”
Alvarez and pro golf partner Wyndham Clark were eliminated from competition prior to the final round, placing tied for 76th on the final leaderboard. Alvarez—who won the 2021 BMW Charity Pro-Am tournament last June in Greer, South Carolina—came within eleven inches of sinking a hole-in-one on the 17th hole on Pebble Beach Golf Links, which would have earned a $500,000 payday for the four-division champ.
It is now back to the boxing ring for Alvarez, who has won major titles at junior middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight.
Several variables remain in play for deciding his next course of action, though Bivol and current WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22KOs) are the suggested leading candidates to next land the assignment. Alvarez would move up in weight to challenge Bivol for a second light heavyweight title reign, whereas Charlo would move up to super middleweight in a bid to become a three-division titlist.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox