CANELO ALVAREZ once again showed why he is the pound-for-pound king after beating Billy Joe Saunders into submission.
Brit Saunders had the fight closely contested on the scorecards until Canelo shattered his eye socket with an uppercut in round eight.
Trainer Mark Tibbs rightfully waved off the action to save his man from any more potentially career-threatening injuries.
As seems to always be the case with Canelo, the question has now shifted to what next for the Mexican superstar?
Here, SunSport looks at five names who the four-weight champion could potentially face next.
Caleb Plant
Canelo picked up the WBO belt to add to his WBC and WBA unified collection.
He needs only Plant’s IBF strap to complete the lot and become undisputed champion.
Before beating Saunders, Canelo and promoter Eddie Hearn revealed an undisputed fight with 21-0 American Plant would be the target.
Afterwards, Alvarez confirmed his intentions, as he warned: “That’s the plan to go for the belt and, I’m coming, man. I’m coming, my friend.”
Canelo is a free agent, which could make talks with Plant, a PBC fighter, simpler, but Hearn also wants the unification on DAZN’s platform.
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Artur Beterbiev
Canelo moved up to light-heavyweight in 2019, where he knocked out Sergey Kovalev to win the WBO belt.
He later vacated it and admitted the 175lb division was out of his comfort zone, instead settling in at 168lb as super-middleweight boss.
But while tearing through the competition, another step up could be Canelo’s biggest challenge.
Beterbiev is currently 16-0, all by KO, and the WBC and IBF title holder.
The intriguing prospect of the Russian’s power and size against Canelo’s technical ability makes it one of boxing’s most interesting fights right now.
Gennady Golovkin trilogy
Alvarez currently has bragging rights over his former middleweight rival, having won their 2018 rematch.
But many felt Golovkin was hard done by not to win their first, which was scored a draw, with the second fight a year on close again.
A trilogy bout has evaded fans, with Canelo instead focussing on winning belts up in weight.
He has recently opened the door to a third bout with GGG, but only at super-middleweight, which would need Golovkin to fight outside of middleweight for the first time ever.
It seems the series will stay on hold for now, at least until Canelo is satisfied in his quest for the undisputed crown.
Demetrius Andrade
Andrade gatecrashed Canelo’s post-fight press conference and called out the boxing icon.
But Alvarez seemed less than impressed, as he said: “Hey, you are a horrible fighter man. You never won against a good fighter.
“You are a horrible fighter. Horrible fighter. Just pay day, pay day, you want pay day, I know that.”
Should Canelo be unable to land a bigger fight, 30-0 American Andrade is promoted by Hearn and has an unbeaten record to put on the line.
But he would have to move up to super-middle, leaving his WBO middleweight belt behind, and bringing nothing more to the table.
Jermall Charlo
Charlo is the current WBC middleweight champ and has had plenty to say about Canelo in the past.
The American is also unbeaten in 31 fights, with 22 KO’s and does possess a fan-friendly style.
It would again involve Charlo having to move up in weight, but he has the size to do so successfully.
He called for a shot at Canelo, tweeting: “F*** the money, f*** fame, and f*** the networks.
“I’ll lose my title and got to 168 to make the fight happen now. Boxing needs this fight to happen.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
