Eddy Reynoso, the trainer of Canelo Alvarez, said his fighter’s opponent for May will be announced on Jan. 15, according to BoxingNews24.com. And it won’t be at 175 pounds.
At least four possible opponents are being considered, the website reported. In his last fight, Alvarez moved up to 175 pounds and stopped Sergey Kovalev to win a light heavyweight title on Nov. 2.
“There are a lot of names,” Reynoso said. “The (Gennadiy) Golovkin trilogy, Callum Smith, John Ryder, Billy Joe Saunders. “We have five months until the date we have in May for when Canelo always fights in.
“There’s plenty of time for Canelo to go back down to 160 or 168. That’s not a problem for us. Right now, we’re going to give it to DAZN to see what’s available to us out there. We plan on making an announcement for the fight in May for Canelo on January 15, after the New Year.”
Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 knockouts) has said repeatedly that he’s not excited about the prospect of facing Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) a third time, saying in effect “that’s finished business” after they drew in 2017 and Alvarez won the rematch on points last year.
However, it’s a fight the fans would embrace. And Alvarez also has said, “if it represents (good) business, why not?”
Golovkin, who won a vacant middleweight title by outpointing tough Sergiy Derevyanchenko in October, is tentatively scheduled to face mandatory challenger Kamil Szeremeta in February.
That means a January announcement might be too late for Golovkin, who presumably would jump at the chance to fight Alvarez one more time but might not wait around for the opportunity.
Smith, a 168-pound titleholder, is coming off a so-so performance against a surprisingly tough Ryder but won by a unanimous decision on Nov. 23. The Englishman is an attractive opponent because he holds the WBA super middleweight title.
Reynoso told BoxingNews24.com that Alvarez has not given up his WBA “regular” 168-pound title, contrary to some reports. Boxing Junkie doesn’t recognize that belt.
Ryder (28-5, 16 KOs) presumably is in the picture because of his inspired performance against Smith (27-0, 19 KOs). Some believe the relatively unknown Londoner did enough to win the fight.
And Billy Joe Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs), another 168-pound titleholder from England, also is coming off a mediocre performance. He stopped Marcelo Coceres in the 11th round but struggled up until that point on Nov. 9.