Canelo Alvarez vs. cruiserweight champ Ilunga Makabu? That's the plan
Canelo Alvarez and Co. have unveiled another bold move.
Alvarez and his team asked the WBC at its convention in Mexico City to approve a fight between the Mexican superstar and 200-pound titleholder Ilunga Makabu next spring and the sanctioning body reportedly has signed off on it.
The incentive for Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) is the opportunity to win a major title in a fifth weight class.
Jermall Charlo, David Benavidez, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol remain candidates to face Alvarez in the future but the newly crowned undisputed 168-pound champion evidently wants to make more history.
One possible site for the fight is Makabu’s native Congo, according to ESPN.
“I know … what he has done with the heavyweights he spars with, and that is why we asked for the fight,” Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s trainer and manager, told ESPN. “We know that [Makabu] is strong, but Canelo can beat him. … Many may say that it is crazy, but they also said that it was crazy when Canelo was junior middleweight champion and we were looking for middleweights, super middleweight, light heavyweights.
“I have a lot of confidence in Canelo. He is very strong and has many qualities, and I know that he is going to win that fight.”
Cruiserweight
Alvarez will aim to become world champion in a fifth weight class! #WBCMX59 pic.twitter.com/c9xADjKpYd
— World Boxing Council (@WBCBoxing) November 16, 2021
Alvarez’s timing might be good in another sense: The WBC is set to lower it’s cruiserweight limit to 190 pounds following the creation of its bridgerweight division, which has a limit of 224 pounds.
The WBC has not announced when that adjustment will be made. Of course, it would benefit Alvarez a great deal.
Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the WBC, sounded excited about the stunning turn of events.
“The WBC has approved unanimously Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez to fight for the WBC cruiserweight championship of the world. Congratulations, Eddy,” Sulaiman said, according to Dan Rafael. “This is a very, very big surprise, unique, but I’m sure he will continue to make history. Congratulations.”
Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs) started his career as a light heavyweight but the 34-year-old has fought as a cruiserweight since 2010 and is 6-feet tall, which will give him a significant natural size advantage over Alvarez.
He won his title by outpointing Michal Cieslak in January of last year and successfully defended by stopping Olanrewaju Durodola in seven rounds last December. Makabu was stopped by Tony Bellew in three rounds in his first title shot, in 2016.
Alvarez already made a big divisional jump, moving up from 160 pounds to 175 to challenge titleholder Sergey Kovalev, who he stopped in 11 rounds. Moving from super middleweight to cruiserweight is a bold step, akin to Roy Jones Jr. transitioning from 175 to heavyweight to face John Ruiz.