WHILE the Canelo Alvarez news lines centre around a possible fight against Terence Crawford there is still an opponent to be finalised for the Mexican’s return in May.
Reports suggest the unified super-middleweight champion has been in discussions to face Crawford in September although nothing is finalised.
Cinco De Mayo weekend, however, is a traditional fight date for Canelo, 62-2-2 (39 KOs), and his manager Eddy Reynoso revealed to TVAzteca.com who is in the running to face his fighter in May.
“Well, there are several, there is William Scull, there is the other one classified by the WBO, [Christian] Mbilli, I think he lives in Canada. They are the ones that more or less exist right now, but there is nothing concrete,” said Reynoso via translation.
Reynoso, who also trains Canelo, added, “You also hear about Crawford for September, but we really still don’t have anything certain for about 15 days or so.”
Scull, 23-0 (9 KOs), picked up the vacant IBF super-middleweight title last October with a hard-fought points win over Vladimir Shishkin, 16-1 (10 KOs). The sanctioning body stripped Canelo of the title three months earlier for failing to defend the belt against Scull who was the mandatory challenger.
Losing the IBF bauble ended the undisputed title reign of Canelo which began in November 2021 after beating Caleb Plant. Two months prior to being stripped the Mexican star defeated Jaime Munguia over 12 rounds and in September retained his WBC, WBO and WBA belts with the same result against Edgar Berlanga.
Scull represents a chance for Canelo to become a two-time undisputed champion but the greater threat of the two suggestions for May comes from Mbilli, 28-0 (23 KOs). The Canadian-based French-Cameroonian is a front foot, pressure fighting aggressor who beat Ukrainian veteran Sergiy Derevyanchenko, 15-6 (10 KOs), wide on points five months ago. The 29-year-old is the current #2 contender with the WBO, #3 IBF, #1 WBC and #1 WBA.
