By: Hans Themistode
In less than a full calendar year, Canelo Alvarez accomplished what has never been done.
On December 19th, 2020, Alvarez officially made the move to the super middleweight division to take on Callum Smith. On the line, was Smith’s WBA 168 pound title along with the vacant WBC crown. Alvarez would go on to easily defeat Smith via unanimous decision. Five months later, Alvarez nabbed the WBO title with an eighth-round stoppage victory over Billy Joe Saunders.
Most recently, Alvarez added the final piece of the undisputed puzzle, as he snagged the IBF world title of Caleb Plant via 11th round stoppage, this past weekend.
Following the win, Alvarez revealed that he fully intends on taking a long and much-needed break. The newly crowned undisputed super middleweight champion won’t begin mulling over possible opponents for his ring return until January of 2022.
While Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s head trainer, has admitted that showdowns against David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, and unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev is a distinct possibility, cruiserweight titlist Mairis Briedis is throwing his name into the mix.
“Doesn’t seem like Canelo will find a leveled fight at super middleweight or light heavyweight,” said Briedis on his social media account. “What a machine! Ready to test waters at cruiserweight for a proper challenge?”
Briedis, 36, is coming off the best run of his career. Since handing over his WBC title to Oleksandr Usyk in January of 2018 via majority decision, Briedis has gone on to win five straight. In doing so, the Latvian native captured the IBF cruiserweight crown and won the World Boxing Super Series as well.
With his dominant form, Briedis has flirted with the idea of moving up to the heavyweight division and embarking on a new championship run. However, if Alvarez decides to take the 36-year-old up on his offer, he could opt to stick around the cruiserweight division a bit longer.