Willy Hutchinson being 'analysed' as potential next fight for Canelo Alvarez

A surprising candidate has emerged for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s next fight: newly minted WBC light heavyweight champion Willy Hutchinson.

Hutchinson defeated Joshua Buatsi at the weekend to avenge a 2024 defeat and claim the vacant green-and-gold belt at 175lbs.

Should a showdown with Alvarez follow, however, that might be the most satisfying – and lucrative – prize of the lot.

The Mexican superstar returned from a 13-month hiatus seven days before Hutchinson’s coronation to defeat Christian Mbilli in Saudi Arabia and regain the WBC super middleweight championship.

Before that, Alvarez’s career appeared to be in the balance after he was outpointed by Terence Crawford in September 2025. Against Mbilli, however, if not quite as good as new, he showed there was plenty of life left in him yet.

According to his trainer, Eddy Reynoso, a return to the light heavyweight division could be next.

“Yes, without a doubt Hutchinson is an option for Canelo. We’ll see,” Reynoso told ESPN KockOut.

"I’ve been analysing his fight [with Buatsi] and I’ve been following him for a few fights.

"I think it’s a fight where we can be very strong and beat him.

"He’s also the WBC champion. Let’s see what happens.”

Alvarez, 64-3-2 (39 KOs), previously won a title at 175lbs in 2019 when he stopped Sergey Kovalev in 11 rounds to claim the WBO belt. Three years later, however, he was outpointed over 12 rounds by Dmitry Bivol in a bid to win the WBA light heavyweight championship.

Though more established in the division, Hutchinson, 21-2 (14 KOs), would start as a sizeable underdog.

He would also be attempting to succeed where eight Britons – John Ryder, Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, Rocky Fielding, Liam Smith, Amir Khan, Ryan Rhodes and Matthew Hatton – have tried and failed to defeat Alvarez.