Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith are lobbying to be Canelo Alvarez’s opponent in the Mexican’s next fight. But if Alvarez decides on somebody else, promoter Eddie Hearn says, the U.K. super middleweights should fight each other.
Alvarez’s plans for his next bout, projected to be on May 2, are still unclear. He relinquished the light heavyweight belt he took from Sergey Kovalev on Nov. 2. There’s still talk about a move back down the scale to middleweight for a third fight against Gennadiy Golovkin.
“If he (Alvarez) doesn’t fight one of those guys next, then they should fight each other, and they should unify,’’ Hearn told iFL TV.
Hearn, who promotes both Saunders and Smith, said he still believes Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) will decide to fight one of the two. Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) and Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) each hold one of the 168-pound belts.
Alvarez won what the WBA calls its “regular” super middleweight title when he stopped overmatched Rocky Fielding (28-2, 16 KOs) in December but Boxing Junkie doesn’t recognize that belt. Smith is the actual WBA titleholder.