Canelo to fight on September 18?

The calendar turned to August, a busy month in the boxing world and the gateway to what is also shaping up to be a big fall.

Canelo Alvarez was set to be part of the loaded schedule with a fight against Caleb Plant to unify boxing’s super middleweight division in September. But as negotiations fell apart at the finish line, Alvarez has turned his attention elsewhere as he looks to schedule a fight for Mexico’s Independence Day weekend for the first time since 2018. Will he succeed in his quest?

Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Ben Baby and Michael Rothstein, discuss the latest with Alvarez, as well as on Ryan Garcia’s knockout power against JoJo Diaz and future thoughts on the championship picture regarding Michael Conlan.

Alvarez was on the verge of fighting Caleb Plant after coming to an agreement with PBC on all the major points of the deal. All that was needed were the signatures. The prospect of that undisputed super middleweight title fight is now dead, and Alvarez is moving on to a new opponent.

With about seven weeks to go until Mexico’s Independence Day weekend, Alvarez should close a deal over the next 10 days or so. He is motivated to do so. The Mexican holiday is important to him, and it’s one of two annual weekends (along with Cinco de Mayo) set aside for boxing’s main attraction: dates Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya had before him.

When negotiations for a fight with Sergey Kovalev similarly dragged on in 2019, Alvarez missed the September date and was not happy. That fight was eventually moved to November.

Not fighting would also interrupt a busy stretch for Alvarez, who has been the most active superstar we’ve seen in some time with three fights since December.

Light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol is now the favorite to be his opponent, and it should be a fairly easy fight to make. No other fighter seems up for the challenge now that Plant is no longer an option.

After Alvarez missed the coveted date in 2019, and again in 2020 due to COVID, he will find a way to keep it this time and star during the festivities for the first time since his second fight against Gennadiy Golovkin in 2018.