By: Hans Themistode
Canelo Alvarez has made his way up and down several weight classes over the past few years.
After winning the WBC, and WBA middleweight titles against Gennadiy Golovkin in September of 2018, Alvarez made the move eight pounds north to the super middleweight division to take on WBA “Regular” champion, Rocky Fielding. The Mexican star would then go on to easily handle Fielding via third-round stoppage.
Following the win, Alvarez then dropped back down to the middleweight division. Once he arrived, he stripped Daniel Jacobs of his championship status via unanimous decision. With another world title on his mantle, Alvarez made the move to the light heavyweight division, winning the WBO strap against Sergey Kovalev.
Since becoming a four-division titlist, Alvarez spent the next year competing at the super middleweight division. During his time there, Alvarez ended the title reigns of Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, and Caleb Plant.
For his next act, Alvarez intends on moving up even further in weight to take on WBC cruiserweight champion, Ilunga Makabu. The decision for Alvarez to step into the ring against the hard-hitting knockout artist came as somewhat of a surprise. Several years ago, after winning light heavyweight gold, Alvarez revealed that staying at 175 pounds was too much for his body to handle.
Yet, with Eddy Reynoso, his long-time trainer, pleading with the WBC to allow Alvarez to face off against Makabu, the Mexican star is now more than willing to pack on the pounds in an attempt to become the first fighter of Mexican descent to win world titles in five separate weight classes.
With Alvarez now preparing to face the largest opponent of his career thus far, he could be on his way to continuing that trend. If the pound-for-pound star is successful in his bid to win a world title in the cruiserweight division, he isn’t completely opposed to the idea of making a run at heavyweight.
“I think a year ago I said no to cruiserweight and here we are,” said Alvarez at the WBC convention. “Therefore I don’t think so. But I don’t know with Eddy sometimes. But I don’t think so. My body wouldn’t allow that to happen.”
