The 4 Finest Opponents for Canelo Alvarez After Win vs. Jermell Charlo

Welcome again, everybody, to Canelo World.

Boxing’s longest-running pay-per-view stalwart reascended his throne Saturday night time in Las Vegas, toppling formidable challenger Jermell Charlo by a close to shutout at T-Cellular Enviornment.

Two judges gave him 10 of 12 rounds and the third choose had it 11-1.

It was a 3rd straight victory and a 3rd straight profitable protection of a quartet of belts for the undisputed champion at 168 kilos, who’s now 9-0 within the weight class and 60-2-2 since turning skilled as a 15-year-old in 2005.

“No person can beat this Canelo,” Alvarez mentioned. “No person can beat me.”

For Charlo, it was a dropping conclusion to an formidable experiment that noticed him climb from his personal undisputed standing at 154 kilos after his twin brother, Jermall, a title claimant at 160 who’d been supplied the battle with Alvarez, declined the chance.

The subsequent likelihood to share a marquee with Alvarez is now up for grabs, with fighters residing wherever from 147 to 175 kilos being talked about as a possible encore. The B/R fight staff marked the event by looking at accessible choices and compiling an inventory of who we expect makes essentially the most sense for the following time round.

Check out what we got here up with and drop a considered your individual within the feedback.

So…you are saying there’s an opportunity?

Although he’d lengthy dismissed the thought of participating social media agitator Jake Paul in a boxing ring, Alvarez nudged the door open within the days main into the Charlo battle.

“Why not? I feel it is good as a result of different individuals who by no means watch boxing, they do not know something about boxing. They wanna watch Jake Paul as a result of he brings followers from different worlds, not boxing followers,” he told the Full Ship Podcast. “That is good, as a result of everyone take pleasure in it. What they do, I feel they do for enterprise and it’s good to respect that.”

As a battle, it would be a mismatch. As an occasion, it would be a can’t-miss.

And do not recommend for a second you’d not watch, as a result of we do not consider you.

Paul, for his sake, has lengthy instructed he’d be as much as the duty.

“He is a killer at 168 kilos, however individuals overlook that I naturally stroll round at about 205, so there is a massive weight distinction. There is a massive peak benefit,” he instructed Maxim’s Tom Taylor in 2021. “Canelo hasn’t fought somebody who has actually challenged him within the final couple of fights. They’ve all been straightforward guys who simply kind of fall on their ass.”

Let’s be clear: If we’re Canelo’s managers, this battle by no means occurs.

Primarily based on 36 minutes of proof from their preliminary get-together in Could of 2022, it is extremely unlikely Alvarez has the chops to topple the likes of Dmitry Bivol.

The unbeaten Russian gentle heavyweight is sublimely expert and supremely assured, and the range of his toolbox was sufficient to high school Alvarez throughout 12 rounds whereas successful a choice that was far much less aggressive than a trio of 115-113 scorecards would point out.

One other 12 months or extra of age for a now-33-year-old will not change that.

However Canelo’s a decided man. And you do not get to his degree of accomplishment by merely accepting the concept that a selected problem can’t be met.

The rematch appeared imminent for a time earlier than the edges decided they may not come to an settlement on the monetary particulars. However now that Alvarez has strung collectively three straight wins since his second smudge, do not be stunned if the refusal to easily acknowledge one other fighter as his superior returns.

Signal me up, says Bivol.

“I’m concerned about a unification battle at 168,” he said on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday.

While you’ve achieved as a lot as Canelo Alvarez—particularly titles at 4 weights, wins over a number of high-end foes and pay-per-view numbers that’d immediate drooling from anybody not named Mayweather—you possibly can just about play by your individual guidelines.

Whereas others are certain by obligatory challengers and purse bids, he can battle anybody he needs anytime he needs by merely making a couple of swipes on his cellphone.

Which is why a reputation like Terence Crawford even comes into play.

The Nebraskan has wiped the slate clear from 135 kilos to 147 and struck an formidable chord when he referred to as Alvarez’s title following a late July defeat of Errol Spence Jr. And Canelo gave the dream battle credibility when he instructed Manouk Akopyan he’d think about it.

“It is attainable, why not? It is attainable,” he said. “If it is smart, I am all the way down to do it. I do not care who’s there. I am all the time capable of battle anyone.”

And to ex-middleweight title challenger Billy Lyell, it is not a slam dunk in Alvarez’s route.

“[Crawford] is likely to be sturdy sufficient to have an opportunity towards Canelo, particularly since Canelo has misplaced a step,” Lyell instructed Bleacher Report. “I feel it is a 50/50 likelihood as a result of they’re about the identical peak. Weight solely issues to a big diploma when an individual is heavier and taller. I do not suppose weight performs almost as massive a job when they’re the identical peak and attain.”

Alvarez is, as talked about, a pristine 9-0 at 168 kilos.

And if tremendous middleweight is the burden class wherein he chooses to focus his full-time power, there are exactly zero foes who make extra sense than David Benavidez.

In spite of everything, the 26-year-old is 27-0 with 23 KOs, has twice been a WBC champion at 168, and might be that group’s obligatory contender via March.

He was final seen thrashing ex-Canelo foe Caleb Plant over 12 rounds in March, after which he renewed his declare to line-leader standing on the subject of the following marquee alternative.

However it’s on no account a assure that he’ll get it.

Maybe not surprisingly as a result of he is taller and longer than Alvarez and has an 85.19-percent KO charge that provides a respectable ingredient of hazard.

And, lest anybody overlook, neither of his two title reigns was ended by an opponent within the ring.

So if it occurs, it is received the prospect to be nearly as good because it will get.

“The largest battle at 168 is Canelo vs. David Benavidez,” Sirius XM radio host and former Ring editor Randy Gordon instructed Bleacher Report. “Whereas Canelo continues to be in his prime, he ought to go after that battle and cease hoping Benavidez goes away. That might simply be 2023’s battle of the 12 months.”