Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will attempt to regain one of his former super-middleweight world titles when he returns to action in September, but his path to all four belts is full of challenges.
A two-time undisputed champion, Canelo is one of the greatest super-middleweights of all time, and he has made it clear that his goal is to get back to the top of the division, bouncing back from his to Terence Crawford last year.
Since Crawford retired, all four major belts have now been either won or given to new champions, and Canelo is scheduled to set about his mission of reclaiming them, beginning with Christian Mbilli’s WBC title on Saturday, September 12.
If he wins, there will be unification options with both the WBO’s Hamzah Sheeraz and the IBF’s Osleys Iglesias, while the Mexican has ruled out a rematch with WBA champ Jaime Munguia, who he now trains alongside. There are not such obstacles in the way with Sheeraz or Iglesias, but the latter still feels the fight won’t be made.
Iglesias, who is a promotional stablemate of Mbilli’s, told the Ring Magazine that Canelo will not dare to face him down the line.
“It’s complicated. It’s complicated with Canelo. Canelo would not want to fight me. I would hope that he would give me the fight and allow me to demonstrate that Cuban fighters and more specifically, Osleys Iglesias, is a different breed.
“We will leave it up to God and God willing, he will give me the opportunity to fight him.”
Iglesias – who has 14 knockouts from his 15 wins – defeated Pavel Silyagin last month to claim the vacant IBF strap. It remains unclear when the Cuban southpaw will make his first defence.
At this week’s 41st annual IBF convention in Vietnam, Diego Pacheco and Troy Williamson were invited to negotiate terms for a final eliminator for mandatory challenger status, but Williamson’s contractual agreement to rematch Callum Simpson is continuing to restrict him. Pacheco is understood to have previously turned down a fight with Iglesias – meaning that the proposed bout is unlikely and the champ will instead pursue a voluntary defence.
