Boxing proves with every announcement that the best are fighting the best, and the news of Canelo Alvarez against Jermell Charlo being made proves that even more. After speculation on who Canelo would fight next, the current super middleweight undisputed champion was announced on social media.
The event will occur on Sept. 30 in Las Vegas, during Mexican Independence Month, a normal fight range for Alvarez.
The fight pairs undisputed boxing champions in two different weight classes against each other for the first time in the four-belt era. Previously, the first men’s battle of undisputed champions happened in 1974, nearly 50 years ago, with Carlos Monzon vs. Jose Napoles.
The Face of Boxing vs. The Future of Boxing
Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) has long been the face of boxing in the post-Mayweather retirement era. Since he left Golden Boy Promotions and former mentor Oscar de la Hoya, he has been allowing others to get into the Canelo business if they have the opponents he is looking for to round out his legacy.
Recently, Alvarez signed a reported three-fight contract with Premier Boxing Champions, with many top fighters that could be attractive for the Mexican star’s résumé. At first, the world thought the move to PBC was to secure a fan-favorite matchup against David Benavidez, the current interim WBC super middleweight champion.
Then talk swirled around Badou Jack, who has fought everywhere from super middleweight to light heavy to cruiserweight. Eventually, the talk moved to Jermall Charlo, the current middleweight champion. However, since “Mall” hadn’t fought in two years, he requested more time, but that didn’t work for Alvarez.
Instead, his twin brother and current undisputed light middleweight champion, Jermell Charlo, got Alvarez’s attention. He retained his undisputed championship last year against Brian Castaño with a tenth-round KO and publicly expressed interest in fighting Alvarez.
Jermell Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) is willing to take on a huge challenge in facing Alvarez and moving up two divisions to do so.
Lonely At The Top
Alvarez is in a public race as the current top boxer, with Gervonta “Tank” Davis rising quickly with every win. Popular opinion has swayed about Alvarez after his lackluster performance in a loss to 175-pound titleholder Dmitry Bivol. Also, he won a controversial decision over Gennadiy Golovkin and, for some, John Ryder at 168 pounds.
All these things might make the challenge ahead of Jermell Charlo seem less daunting. Jermell Charlo will have been out of the ring for 16 months when he faces Alvarez, but he is daring to be great, stepping up in weight for what would be a career-defining win.
Fans still hope that Alvarez will eventually have a showdown with 168-pound rival David Benavidez, called “The Mexican Monster” by Mike Tyson. Additionally, Alvarez stated he wanted a second fight with Bivol, so this pivot to the PBC roster surprised the boxing world tremendously.
With Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford fighting to crown an undisputed welterweight champion, Stephen Fulton facing Naoya Inoue, and more, boxing is returning to the best fighting the best and fighters defining their legacies.
