Where Does Canelo Go From Here?
By Eddie Sanchez
As Top Rank continues to showcase lackluster cards on ESPN, the industry is eagerly waiting to hear from Golden Boy and DAZN. Both companies have had their share of issues amplified from COVID-19, but the largest domino still remains.
Who is Canelo Alvarez, the face of boxing in North America, fighting next?
The world has implemented measures to activate their livelihoods and economies within the past weeks to find mixed results. Given the state of care, or rather lack thereof in America, the European Union is considering a continuation of the current travel ban in place between the two nations. While this issue is much bigger than boxing, fans can not be faulted for considering what this means for their favorite fighters.
Assuming the travel ban continues, that would likely cause Callum Smith (27-0, WBA (Super) & The Ring Super Middleweight Champion) and Billy Joe Saunders (WBO Super Middleweight Champion) to not be considered until mid-2021 at the earliest.
Quite frankly, Billy Joe Saunders was already on thin-ice stemming from his out-of-the-ring behavior. Regardless, it does not seem likely that these two are going to be considered for Canelo’s next opponent. Honestly, this might not be the worst thing in the world either. A matchup between the two Brits would make for an action-packed fight and would be well received on DAZN and in the UK.
Additionally, there were also rumors of Canelo considering a matchup with Japanese star Ryoto Murata in his home country, which was not well received by fans when it was initially rumored.
Personally, I like the idea of Canelo building his global brand in Japan and increasing DAZN’s reach in the Asian market. While it’s unlikely this would be the next choice given COVID-19, this would make for a nice matchup in the near future.
In order to narrow down a list of potential opponents for Canelo, one must consider the most important boxes that need to be checked by DAZN and Golden Boy:
Little-to-no Travel Restrictions
Inexpensive
Name Recognition
Defining Trait for Marketing
Given these four variables, it is imperative that the next opponent be a “name” opponent that fights out of North America and would have some draw that they carry. Based on this definition, here are three credible opponents that can be considered:
Jaime Munguia
David Lemieux
Sergiy Derevyanchenko
The last two names mentioned happen to both be former Gennady Golovkin opponents. Golovkin was intentionally left out of the equation because unfortunately, it seems that he will be focused on his IBF mandatory.
Let’s take a closer look at the three present options available. Jaime Munguia (35-0, 28 KO) is a 23 year old Middleweight under the Golden Boy banner. He last fought in January where he defeated Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan by way of TKO. While this was a respectable win, it happened to be Jaime’s first at the Middleweight limit of 160 pounds.
The positives, from the network side of things, are that Canelo-Jaime would be a Mexican versus Mexican matchup, which means it would be an easy sell. He is also very young and would likely not be too expensive. Hardcore boxing fans might not be the most enthusiastic with this potential matchup, but DAZN could take the die-hard Canelo fans and casual Mexican fans to the bank.
The next option would be the Canadian, David Lemieux (41-4, 34 KO). It has long been documented that Golden Boy has wanted to match Canelo with Lemieux. The two would be easy to sell to the casual fans because of their good looks and both have loyal national fan bases that support them. Hard core fans might scoff at the idea of this match considering that Lemieux has so far proven to be a class below with losses to Marco Antonio Rubio, Gennady Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders.
Lemieux however is an attraction! He is regularly in action packed fights and coincidentally knocked out Gary Spike O’Sullivan, two years earlier, in ten less rounds than Munguia. Another positive from Canelo’s point of view would be the weight class. Lemieux fights at the Super Middleweight Limit which would mean Canelo would not have to cut much weight for this fight. This is a positive considering the unique circumstances we live in and would offer Canelo more room for error if he has to quarantine.
The third potential matchup would by far be the most well received. Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KO) is well respected in the boxing community. Both of his losses were greatly disputed and were from the upper echelon of the division, Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs.
Many fans argue that Golovkin was gifted a decision against Derevyanchenko, but nevertheless, the matchup proved to be a war and the body-punching style he now carries would create an interesting obstacle for Canelo who is arguably the best body puncher in the sport.
Derevyanchenko trains out of Brooklyn, NY which eliminates the travel issue and he has fought on DAZN which offers a sense of comfort with negotiations.
Purely speculation on my part, but because he has official losses in his two world title fights, he will be motivated for this matchup and could likely be had at a discount. He is clearly the best of the three potential opponents, which Canelo-haters may argue that he will go in a different direction, but Canelo has often sought out challenges in the past on his own without much pressure from the public.
One might argue that this line of thinking contradicts his recent actions with Golovkin, but the two have fought twice already and it is likely that this fight would have happened this September if COVID-19 wasn’t a current issue limiting their ability to earn live-gate revenue.
Given the three options I would most want to see Canelo-Derevyanchenko, but I would be okay with all three.
Who do you want to see Canelo fight next? Do you think our assessment is accurate, or do you think there are better options?
