Canelo Alvarez will return to action on Saturday, May 4, which has been expected, and the leading candidate to face the Mexican superstar appears to be Jermall Charlo.
Joseph Santoloquito of The RING reported yesterday that Jermall, twin to Canelo’s most recent opponent Jermell, would be Canelo’s next opponent, and that belief has picked up steam elsewhere.
Canelo spoke with TV Azteca in Mexico today, which some speculated would be him announcing a departure from Premier Boxing Champions, but instead was just Alvarez saying he’d fight an American opponent in May, not a Mexican, which rules out Jaime Munguia.
It doesn’t rule out David Benavidez, but the fight that everyone actually wants just does not look like it’s going to happen in May, which can really only be classified as an actual duck on the Canelo side at this point.
The 33-year-old Charlo (33-0, 22 KO) has fought just once in what will be three years this coming June, a November win over Jose Benavidez Jr on the Benavidez vs Andrade pay-per-view undercard. Charlo still holds the WBC middleweight title, though it seems clear he’s never going to defend it again, and that the sanctioning body could really just stop pretending at this point, as he has not defended it since 2021.
While the 27-year-old Benavidez (28-0, 24 KO) has done everything he can to earn the fight with Canelo — including sitting as the WBC’s “interim” champion since beating David Lemieux two years ago — Jermall has been on the sidelines. It really is impossible to look at the situation from the outside and not think Canelo and his team are avoiding Benavidez, who is the clear top contender for Canelo’s undisputed championship at 168 lbs.
Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KO), also 33, would instead be defending the WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO titles against Charlo if this fight comes to fruition as it now seems it will. Undisputed welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford has also been extensively discussed, but that also doesn’t seem to be in actual plans at the moment.
What do you think of Canelo vs Jermall in May?