By: Hans Themistode
Canelo Alvarez made a bit more room on his championship mantle. The unified super middleweight titlist added the WBO belt previously held by Billy Joe Saunders to his WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine champions. The two faced off this past weekend at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
Saunders, 31, called it a night at the end of the eighth round after suffering a quadripod facial fracture. With the win, Alvarez is only one title away from becoming the first undisputed super middleweight of all time. In order to do so, Alvarez will look to take on IBF titlist, Caleb Plant.
While negotiations between both sides are yet to begin, current IBF middleweight champion, and long-time rival, Gennadiy Golovkin, may attempt to interject. With the pair sharing a long history with one another, Alvarez admits that the two may meet in the ring once more. Be that as it may, Golovkin will have to wait his turn.
“The truth is, I’m open for anything,” said Alvarez during an interview with Ring Magazine. “If the fight happens after unifying at 168 pounds, I’m open for anything.”
For Golovkin, the future first-ballot Hall of Famer still has a bone to pick with Alvarez. In September of 2017, the Kazakstan native was forced to settle for a highly controversial split decision draw against Alvarez. Unsatisfied with the results, Golovkin opted to have an immediate rematch and was subsequently defeated for the first time in his career via majority decision.
Since then, Golovkin has gotten back to his winning ways, stopping both Steve Rolls and Kamil Szeremeta while sandwiching a decision victory against Sergiy Derevyanchenko in between. Alvarez, of course, has been busy adding up the wins as well. The pound-for-pound star has picked up world titles at middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight before ultimately settling in at super middleweight.
Although Golovkin has now been a pro for a decade and a half, he has spent his entire career in the middleweight division. Despite Golovkin’s comfort at 160 pounds, Alvarez is enjoying his time eight pounds north. If Golovkin expects to get his hands on the Mexican star one final time, he’ll have to campaign at a higher weight class for the first time in his career.
“I’m open for anything, but it would be at 168 pounds,” continued Alvarez. “If he wants the fight with me, he has to do it. Why wouldn’t he do it? I went up from 154 up to 160 to fight with him. I’ve fought a lot of good fighters, a lot of champions. I beat him.”