Report: Canelo may fight Kovalev at 175 pounds in September
It appears that Canelo Alvarez might try out another new weight class later this year.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has already won titles in three weight divisions in his distinguished career, and he may be looking for another one. The current middleweight kingpin and holder of a super middleweight title has been rumored to be moving up to light heavyweight (175 pounds) to fight Sergey Kovalev. SI’s Chris Mannix took to social media to discuss the situation:
Significant momentum for Canelo Alvarez to move up to 175-pounds to face light heavyweight titleholder @KrusherKovalev in September, multiple sources familiar with the situation tell @SInow. No offer at this point, but Canelo has been zeroed in on that fight.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) June 27, 2019
It had been expected that Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KO) might go in the direction of a third fight with Gennady Golovkin, but apparently he wants bigger fish to fry. He’s coming a successful defense of his middleweight titles in May, where he defeated Daniel Jacobs by unanimous decision. He also picked up the IBF middleweight title with that win.
Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KO) sat at the top of the light heavyweight division for years before losing a pair of bouts to Andre Ward in 2016 and 2017. He rebounded and picked up a couple of wins, but was shocked by Eleider Alvarez in 2018 and stopped in the seventh round. Kovalev’s last bout was a rematch with Alvarez, in which he picked up a unanimous decision win. He currently holds the WBO light heavyweight title.
Since it’s Canelo, the fight would air on DAZN. Mid-September is a customary fight time for Canelo, as it falls around Mexico’s Independence Day on September 15th.
As noted in the tweet, the bout has not been offered yet. Kovalev’s promoter Kathy Duva has also since said that there have been “substantive discussions or offers,” but Golden Boy has reached out to her about this potential matchup. But if it’s out there, there’s a very good chance it could go down. And that would be one of the biggest boxing fights of 2019 if it does.