CANELO ALVAREZ has set his sights on facing Billy Joe Saunders on May 2 for Cinco de Mayo weekend.
The Mexican superstar is plotting his next move after vacating the WBO light-heavyweight belt he won against Sergey Kovalev in November.
Canelo Alvarez is plotting to fight Billy Joe Saunders in his next fightCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Briton Saunders is the WBO super-middleweight world championCredit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA
Canelo has already started his training camp as The Athletic report Brit Saunders is being targeted as his next opponent.
Unified middleweight champion Alvarez traditionally boxes on Cinco de Mayo weekend, a celebration of Mexican independence day.
Having moved from 160lbs to 175lbs within six months Canelo is planning to meet in middle and return at 168lbs.
He already holds the WBA’s secondary ‘Regular’ world title, but wants to legitimise himself as a fully fledged four-division ruler.
Canelo has since been called out by WBO title holder Saunders, and WBA ‘Super’ champion Callum Smith, from Liverpool.
Both Englishman are promoted by Eddie Hearn, who is partnered with Canelo’s broadcasters DAZN, making either title fight easy to make.
But ex-middleweight champion Saunders remains the front-runner for the fight, as Canelo told Ring Magazine: “A fight between me and Billy Joe Saunders is a great fight, he’s a great fighter.
“He’s a difficult southpaw and a champion, it’s a good fight.
“I just won a fourth world title and I’m back here in the gym. It’s no boxing, no life for me.
“The list of opponents is going to keep growing. There’s no rush in that. After I beat one there’s five new opponents that pop up.”
Saunders moved up to super-middleweight last year, winning the vacant WBO title after dropping the same belt at middleweight.
Canelo still holds WBC and WBA belts at middleweight but was stripped of his IBF strap for failing to fight mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Gennady Golovkin went on to beat Derevyanchenko for the vacant belt, as the Kazakh still holds out for a trilogy bout against his rival Alvarez.
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
