By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Eddie Hearn has his own preference for Canelo Alvarez’s next opponent.
DAZN Group executive chairman John Skipper wants a third Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin fight for September. That’s among the reasons Skipper signed off on committing potentially almost $500 million combined for their long-term contracts with the emerging streaming service.
If Alvarez-Golovkin III isn’t next, however, Hearn would welcome an Alvarez-Callum Smith fight for the big, unbeaten Brit’s WBA super middleweight title. Hearn, whose company promotes Smith and Daniel Jacobs, discussed an Alvarez-Smith matchup during the press conference following Alvarez’s unanimous-decision defeat of Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs) on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
“We’d love to make the David Benavidez fight with Callum Smith,” Hearn said. “I think that’s a great, great fight. We’d love to make Canelo with Callum Smith. You know, that’s an opportunity for Canelo to move up and win The Ring magazine championship at 168 pounds, as well as the 160 that he holds. So, I think Callum’s in a good position. You’re gonna see him on June the 1st, at Madison Square Garden [on the Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz undercard]. We’re gonna announce that next week.”
Oscar De La Hoya and his promotional company’s president, Eric Gomez, each expressed interest in Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) facing Smith during the post-fight press conference. Gomez mentioned the possibility of the 28-year-old Alvarez taking a transatlantic trip to England to meet Smith (25-0, 18 KOs) in his home country.
A third fight against Golovkin obviously is the more marketable bout for Alvarez and DAZN. Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs), who’ll box Canadian underdog Steve Rolls (19-0, 10 KOs) on June 8 at Madison Square Garden, sat ringside Saturday night to watch the Alvarez-Jacobs bout.
Alvarez-Golovkin III is an intriguing grudge match because Mexico’s Alvarez scored a controversial majority-decision victory over Kazakhstan’s Golovkin in their rematch September 15 at T-Mobile Arena.
Still, challenging the 6-feet-3 Smith would afford Alvarez an opportunity to become recognized as a legitimate three-division champion.
The IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champ stopped England’s Rocky Fielding in the third round December 15 to win the WBA world 168-pound championship. Though significantly bigger than the 5-feet-8 Alvarez, the 6-feet-3½ Fielding (27-2, 15 KOs) was a secondary WBA titlist.
Smith owns the WBA’s true super middleweight title and won the World Boxing Super Series’ 168-pound tournament last year. The 29-year-old Smith also scored a first-round, technical-knockout victory over Fielding 3½ years ago in Liverpool, England.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.