Canelo Alvarez isn’t ready to close the door on one of boxing’s biggest modern rivalries. The Mexican’s two battles with Gennadiy Golovkin were incredible encounters that were fiercely fought, and although Canelo has gone on to solidify his ring credentials, a third fight with the Kazakh monster is still something that appeals to him.
This Saturday, Canelo tackles Billy Joe Saunders in a three-belt super-middleweight title unification clash, a fight being screened live on DAZN in all regions except Mexico, but that hasn’t stopped members of the boxing industry from forecasting the four-weight world champion’s next move.
IBF 168-pound champion Caleb Plant, WBA (super) light heavyweight titlist Dimitry Bivol, and unified 175-pound titleholder Artur Beterbiev are all likely to be in the frame, but that doesn’t mean talk of a trilogy meeting with Golovkin will go away. Canelo has flip-flopped on whether he'd be willing to meet his rival for the third time. At this point, Alvarez is focused on claiming all four belts at super-middleweight. After that, he says he's open for business.
“The truth is I’m open for anything,” Alvarez told Ring Magazine in the build-up to his fight with Saunders. “If the fight happens after unifying at 168 pounds, I’m open for anything, but it would be at 168 pounds.”
“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 and I think that everything else will leave the legacy of my career.”