Canelo Alvarez is going to be elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame on the first day he's eligible, because not only is he magnificently talented, but he was the kind of guy who would fight anyone any time anywhere.
This is a guy who willingly fought a prime Gennadiy Golovkin twice, who took on the great Floyd Mayweather when he wasn't nearly ready to do so, and faced guys like Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara when few fighters in those weight classes wanted anything to do with them.
He's fought 20 times since losing that majority decision to Mayweather on Sept. 14, 2013. In the roughly 10 years since, he's gone 18-1-1, losing a light heavyweight bout to Dmitry Bivol and drawing in his first fight with Golovkin.
Let's break those down into four groups of five and see if anything jumps off the page.
Fights 1 through 5
• March 8, 2014, TKO 10 Alfredo Angulo, Las Vegas
• July 12, 2014, SD12 Erislandy Lara, Las Vegas
• May 9, 2015, KO3 James Kirkland, Houston
• Nov. 21, 2015, UD12 Miguel Cotto, Las Vegas
• May 7, 2016, KO6 Amir Khan, Las Vegas
If we look at those five, the weak link is Kirkland, but Kirkland was a brawler with an entertaining style. While most expected Alvarez to win, it was sure to be a shootout and, as it turns out, it was. Cotto was in the midst of a Hall of Fame career. Khan and Lara were full world champions, though Khan was moving up considerably in weight. Angulo had held an interim world title but, like Kirkland, was a brawler with a crazy offensive style.
Fights 6 through 10
• Sept. 17, 2016, KO9 Liam Smith, Arlington, Texas
• May 6, 2017, UD12 Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Las Vegas
• Sept. 16, 2017, split draw Gennadiy Golovkin, Las Vegas
• Sept. 15, 2018, MD12 Gennadiy Golovkin, Las Vegas
• Dec. 15, 2018, KO3 Rocky Fielding, New York
In this group, the fights that jump out immediately are the two with Golovkin, who was in his prime and was one of the most feared fighters in the game. Both were outstanding, action-packed battles that could have gone either way. Smith was a world champion and Alvarez was going back down in weight. The Chavez fight was almost a necessity because of their relative popularity in Mexico. Fielding was a gimmee, but he didn't get called out on that because he was moving up in weight to super middleweight.
Fights 11 through 15
• May 4, 2019, UD12 Daniel Jacobs, Las Vegas
• Nov. 2, 2019, KO11 Sergey Kovalev, Las Vegas
• Nov. 19, 2020, UD12 Callum Smith, San Antonio, Texas
• Feb. 27, 2021, KO3 Avni Yildirim, Miami Gardens, Fla.
• May 8, 2021, KO8 Billy Joe Saunders, Arlington, Texas
Four of the five opponents in this group were solid or better world champions. Yildirim was a total gimmee but Alvarez had stated he wanted to become undisputed champion and the WBC made Yildirim a mandatory challenger. That bout was a disgrace, as everyone and his brother, including Yildirim, knew he had no chance. But the blame for that shouldn't go on Alvarez, but on the sanctioning group for putting such a non-deserving contender in that spot.
Fights 16 through 20
• Nov. 6, 2021, TKO11 Caleb Plant, Las Vegas
• May 7, 2022, LUD12 Dmitry Bivol, Las Vegas
• Nov. 17, 2022 UD12 Gennadiy Golovkin, Las Vegas
• May 6, 2023, UD12 John Ryder, Guadalajara, Mexico
• Sept. 30, 2023, UD12 Jermell Charlo, Las Vegas
Alvarez unified the 168-pound belts by defeating Plant. He moved up again to 175 and lost a tough one to Bivol. He completed the trilogy with Golovkin after that, and while it was clear Golovkin was no longer the same fighter, that was not Alvarez's fault and he deserves kudos for facing him a third time. Ryder was a gimmee but the point of that was to bring a fight to his hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico. And the last one was essentially a gimmee, but there was a lot going on we didn't know about at the time.
As it turns out, when Alvarez signed his three-fight deal with the Premier Boxing Champions, it called for the first two bouts to be against the Charlo twins. Jermell was holding the undisputed super welterweight belt, while Jermall hadn't fought since June 19, 2021, more than two years prior. When Alvarez announced the deal with PBC, the expectation was that it would be against Jermall, who was already a middleweight and would be moving up.
Instead, it was Jermell, who was at 154 and had to move up two classes. He fought without passion and nobody really bought into the fight. It was a dud, and when Alvarez realized that a fight against the other Charlo would be a dud at the box office as well, he changed course.
To me, he should have fought Terence Crawford, the undisputed welterweight champion, in May and if he won, faced interim WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez in the fall. If he'd lost to Crawford, they could have rematched.
Both of those fights would have been big sellers and each would have had a relatively good chance to surpass a million buys. Crawford is widely regarded as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, while Alvarez is a consensus Top 10 pick who believes he should be No. 1. While it's a huge jump from 147 to 168 and I would never have recommended it until seeing Crawford destroy Errol Spence Jr. on July 29, that fight would have been fascinating.
Alvarez dismissed a Crawford fight by saying he wouldn't have gotten enough credit if he'd won. That, though, brings us to the way he changed course, which is incredibly puzzling. He has repeatedly ruled out a Benavidez fight, even though Benavidez is the one most likely to have a chance to defeat him. It's a compelling fight and would attract a large and passionate crowd.
He's a free agent again, but likely will soon announce a deal with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom. And the two leading opponents to face him on May 4 are Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia. Berlanga is a soft touch for him, who has repeatedly faced B- and C-level opposition. While the promotion will try to play up the Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry, no one who knows even a little about would give Berlanga much of a shot. It's a third- or fourth-round stoppage by Alvarez.
Munguia isn't ready for Canelo yet, but he'd at least make a more entertaining fight. He's aggressive and throws a lot of punches, but he has defensive holes. Trainer Freddie Roach said he'd like more time with him in the gym after Munguia defeated Ryder earlier this month, but if Munguia gets the Alvarez fight, he won't get it.
Alvarez has never run from challenges before in his career. And while there were calls for him to face Golovkin in 2015 and 2016, Alvarez got to him when Golovkin was still on his game. A sore spot for boxing fans is that the 2015 mega-fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao came too late in their careers.
Avoiding Benavidez is bizarre and goes against everything we've learned about Alvarez during his career.
Alvarez remains a big draw, but if he chooses to fight Berlanga and Munguia, he's certainly not going to get the kind of results at the box office he's used to getting. Fans shouldn't be asked to pay for a filet mignon steak dinner when their getting a McDonald's meal, which is the case if he chooses Berlanga for May 4.
If you want your say on who Canelo should fight next, please vote in our poll and let us know why you voted the way you did.