Eddie Hearn thinks that Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will never fight below 168lbs again, but could move up from super middleweight.
Speaking on the DAZN Boxing Show, Hearn outlined the options for Canelo away from Caleb Plant, the IBF super middleweight champion who holds the only belt in the division that the Mexican does not already possess.
“We want to make a call probably next week on the fight that Canelo will take in September. I think the talk about the 175 pound fights were in Mexico last week,” he began.
“If we can't get the Caleb Plant fight, obviously, we need another dance partner for September, he's not going to go back to 160 ever. So his choices to defend these championships are 168. But I think he just prefers to take on champions.”
Hearn continued: “You know, you have Joe Smith, you have Dmitry Bivol and you have Artur Beterbiev. Dmitry Bivol is probably the easiest fight to make because he works with us.
“But Artur Beterbiev, Canelo talks about that, but he knows how hard Beterbiev punches, and Canelo's a competitor.
“Now you tell him that's not the fight to take. You want to take it? You tell him that's a dangerous fight? He'll want to do it. It's very, very risky moving up to 175. You know, we still were against [Sergey] Kovalev. Kovalev was, you know, these guys, particularly Bivol; he's in his prime right now. And still young. Beterbiev is aging but still in his prime Kovalev, arguably the back end of his career, but you could do it. “