Canelo Alvarez is fresh off of a dominant unanimous decision win against Jermell Charlo, defending his 168-pound undisputed title against the 154-pound undisputed champion.
Another undisputed champion lurking in the distance and looking forward to getting a crack at Alvarez is 147-pound kingpin Terence Crawford.
Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) admitted immediately after the Charlo fight that Crawford was not necessarily atop the cards for his coming fights, but if it made sense, he’d consider the clash.
Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said the fight is a desirable one and he’d be keen on setting it up.
“There was a lot of chatter around it initially. Terence said, ‘Hey, a catchweight.’ Canelo said, ‘No, I’m not going to. He’s too small. Why would I go down?’ But then they both cleared it up, and I think it’s because of the magnitude of the opportunity,” Espinoza told Fight Hub TV founder Marcos Villegas in an interview.
“Clearly, fans are interested. I think it’s a huge financial opportunity for them, so I think if the fans want it, if the fight makes sense, then I think it’s very doable. It’s really up to Canelo where he wants to go after this. If that’s it and he wants to go in that direction.”
The 33-year-old Alvarez is under contract to have two more fights with Premier Boxing Champions, most likely in 2024 around his traditional fight dates of Cinco de Mayo in May and Mexican Independence Day in September.
In addition to Crawford, Alvarez will be presented with a group of options headlined by the likes of David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, David Morrell, Demetrius Andrade, and Errol Spence Jr. among others.
Crawford was seated ringside for the Alvarez-Charlo fight and commented immediately after with his thoughts.
"[Charlo], you went out sad. Didn’t even try to win, all you did was try to survive. You should be ashamed of yourself," said Crawford.
"Ok y’all I’m over [Charlo], he’s no longer on my hit list. He went out there and laid down and let Canelo spank him like he was his daddy with no type of resistance. Congratulations Canelo, you made the so-called lion look like a baby cub."
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.