By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez repeatedly has stated in recent months that he wants to own all the middleweight titles at the same time.
Becoming boxing’s first unified middleweight champion since Jermain Taylor in 2005 would require Mexico’s Alvarez to defeat Demetrius Andrade, who holds the WBO 160-pound championship.
Andrade attended the Alvarez-Daniel Jacobs card Saturday night and stood alongside the stage during the post-fight press conference.
Oscar De La Hoya, whose company promotes Alvarez, and Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez mentioned Andrade’s name multiple times following Alvarez’s unanimous-decision victory over Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs). That doesn’t necessarily mean Andrade would land what would be by far the biggest fight of his career if Andrade (27-0, 17 KOs) tops Poland’s Maciej Sulecki (28-1, 11 KOs) on June 29 in Providence, Rhode Island, Andrade’s hometown.
“Well, I’m not saying he’s a top contender for his next fight,” De La Hoya said, in reference to Andrade. “But Canelo’s wishes have always been to unify all the belts. But there’s different scenarios that can take place. You remember the days that a fighter loses a world title, and you have to work your way back up. You know, Golovkin is knocking at Canelo’s door. I mean, he was right here, knocking on his door.
“Demetrius Andrade’s right here, watching Canelo, knocking on his door. [Callum] Smith is knocking on his door. [Sergey] Kovalev is knocking on his door. We wanna create the right scenario. Look, first thing is first – he has to rest up, and then we’ll huddle up and make decisions as a team. But one thing about Canelo, he never shies away from a challenge. That’s for sure.”
Alvarez alluded to the close proximity of Andrade’s optional title defense against Sulecki to his next fight as a potential obstacle. The 28-year-old Alvarez probably will return to the ring September 14, just 11 weeks after Andrade-Sulecki.
DAZN Group executive chairman also wants Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) to take a more lucrative third fight against Gennadiy Golovkin on September 14. Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) said over the weekend he’ll be ready to face Alvarez in September if he overcomes Canadian underdog Steve Rolls (19-0, 10 KOs) on June 8 at Madison Square Garden.
“Canelo has many options, as you know,” De La Hoya said. “And there’s nobody that he doesn’t wanna face. But he has many options and that’s the wonderful part about being the man in the sport of boxing, is that everybody wants to fight him. Whether it’s at 175, whether it’s at 160 or 168, he has many challenges. There’s one thing about Canelo that he never shies away from, and that’s a challenge.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
