Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is slated to return once again for Cinco De Mayo weekend in May of 2025. Who will fill the opposite corner remains to be seen.
The Mexican superstar is coming off a routine points victory over Edgar Berlanga, retaining three of the four super-middleweight world titles after being stripped of the IBF belt and his undisputed status earlier this year.
Given his popularity and the payday that comes with it, there is and always will be a long line of fighters looking to land a shot on Alvarez, who is now 65 fights into his campaign.
Fans would like to see him in with David Benavidez or Terence Crawford. There is also talk of Chris Eubank Jr scoring the fight should he make a successful return to the ring this weekend. Canelo himself is keen on a rematch with Dmitry Bivol, just one of two men to defeat him along with Floyd Mayweather – though that again depends on Bivol’s fight against Artur Beterbiev this coming Saturday.
Veteran promoter Bob Arum has other ideas, however. Taking to social media to talk up his charge, he pointed out the Christian Mbilli is now ranked number one with two sanctioning bodies.
“Christian Mbilli is now the number one contender by the WBC & WBA for the super middleweight crown held by Canelo Alvarez. An Mbilli fight against Canelo in May would be a tremendously exciting spectacle, since Mbilli is an all-action, nonstop puncher.”
“We really think that Mbilli would give Canelo a hell of a fight, I think he would beat Canelo, but whatever it would be a really good fight … he is really a force to be reckoned with.”
29-year-old Mbilli is 27-0 with 23 knockouts and picked up youth and international belts at middleweight before moving up to the 168 ranks. He was last out in August with a points win over ever-tough Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Canelo will, as always, announce his next move in his own time. As mentioned, a lot rides on Bivol-Beterbiev on October 12.
