Canelo Alvarez just wanted to get back into the ring.
The Mexican star announced live on Instagram Tuesday that he will face super middleweight titleholder Callum Smith on Dec. 19. The fight will be streamed on DAZN and is expected to take place in Texas.
Alvarez last fought in November of last year, when he stopped Sergey Kovalev.
“We are disciplined people who are always ready,” he said in Spanish. “… The only thing we want is to continue making my career and continue growing as a team. We’re ready for December 19 against Callum Smith, who is one of the best at 168-pounds. …
“We will be fighting against one of the best. I feel very happy about that. We want to continue advancing and continue to be the best. We didn’t want 2020 to end without a Canelo fight.”
Said Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s trainer and manager: “We are very happy to return to the ring and close out the year with one more victory to continue demonstrating that Canelo is the best boxer on this planet.”
Alvarez (53-1-2 36 KOs) will have the opportunity against Smith (27-0 19 KOs) to win a major title in a fourth division. He holds what the WBC calls its “regular” 168-pound title, which Boxing Junkie doesn’t recognize.
Smith won his title by stopping George Groves in seven rounds in September 2018. He has defended twice, knocking out Hassan N’Dam and outpointing John Ryder. The latter fight took place in November of last year.
Thus, both Alvarez and Smith will have been out of the ring for more than year.
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