Canelo Alvarez has settled on Billy Joe Saunders for his May 2 fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on DAZN, according to reports. An official announcement hasn’t been made.
Alvarez, who will challenge for Saunders’ super middleweight title, reportedly had also considered 168-pound beltholder Callum Smith.
Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) is coming of an 11th-round knockout of Sergey Kovalev for the Russian’s light heavyweight title in November, which he promptly gave up to move back down in weight.
Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) is coming off of a shaky performance against relative unknown Marcelo Esteban Coceres, who also was stopped in 11 rounds. The fight was roughly even on the cards at the time of the stoppage.
However, Saunders, who will be making the third defense of his belt, has built a reputation as an excellent boxer with a strong track record.
Alvarez claims that he is a four-division titleholder because he defeated fringe contender Rocky Fielding for what the WBA calls its “regular” title in December 2018, but Boxing Junkie doesn’t recognize that belt.
If the Mexican defeats Saunders, then he will in fact have won titles in the junior middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.