LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez realizes dropping back down to middleweight won’t be anything resembling easy.
The newly crowned WBO light heavyweight champion could remain at 175 pounds, particularly for a fight against WBA champ Dmitry Bivol. He is determined, though, to return to the middleweight limit of 160 pounds.
That’ll require losing 15 pounds of mostly muscle mass that he put on his 5-feet-8 frame for his 11 th-round knockout of Sergey Kovalev on Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“It will probably be very difficult to lose weight,” Alvarez said during a post-fight press conference at MGM Grand. “It’s always been very difficult for me to lose weight. However, we must continue creating history and I can do it. ”
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It isn’t clear exactly which fight would entice Alvarez to return to the middleweight division.
He remains disinterested in a third fight against Gennadiy Golovkin (40 -1-1, 35 KOs), the bout DAZN’s executives want Alvarez to take next. Before he fought Kovalev, Alvarez also called WBO middleweight champ Demetrius Andrade “very boring” and criticized Andrade (28 – 0, 17 KOs) for the Providence, Rhode Island, native’s lack of quality opposition.
An Alvarez-Jermall Charlo fight would be compelling, but their promotional and television / streaming issues would be troublesome to navigate.
Alvarez (53 – 1-2, 36 KOs) has eight fights remaining on his contract with DAZN and is represented by Golden Boy Promotions. Houston’s Charlo (29 – 0, 21 KOs), the WBC champion, is advised by Golden Boy rival Al Haymon and has had his bouts broadcast by FOX and Showtime.
The 29 – year-old Alvarez and his handlers aren’t sure which weight he’ll fight at next. All they’ve stated is that he will box at middleweight again.
“Let’s see,” Alvarez said before he beat Kovalev. “I still don’t know. But I have to go back to my weight again. ”
Alvarez owns the WBA middleweight title. He also is the WBC’s franchise champion at 160 pounds, a strange designation made four months ago that eliminated the need for Alvarez to make a mandatory defense versus Charlo.
Alvarez holds the WBA’s super middleweight title as well. He hasn’t ruled out having his next fight contested at the 168 – pound limit.
Keith Idec is a senior writer / columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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