After months of anticipation, unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez will not be fighting anyone in September. ESPN’s boxing reporter Mike Coppinger first reported the story.
“The pound-for-pound king planned to fight September 18, but after prolonged negotiations for two different fights, Alvarez has decided to move his next bout to November, promoter Eddie Hearn told ESPN on Friday.
The Mexican star wanted more time to train at his gym in San Diego and plot out a deal for his next fight, sources told ESPN.
“September 18 became tighter and tighter, and we made the decision today to focus on November,” said Hearn, who promoted Alvarez’s last three fights.”
After Alvarez defeated Billy Joe Saunders at AT&T Stadium, he made it clear that he wanted to unify the super middleweight division. All signs pointed to Alvarez fighting IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant in a significant unification bout on September 18, 2021.
According to reports, Alvarez was offered an estimated $40 million to fight Plant in a pay-per-view bout on Fox. The offer was projected to be a career-high payday for the Mexican superstar boxer.
But after disagreements between both sides, talks were broken off and never resumed. Light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol was mentioned as a replacement if talks could not resume between Alvarez and the PBC to fight Plant on Fox.
Bivol and Alvarez agreed to a catchweight at 172 pounds. As for now, those plans have been canceled, and Alvarez will seek another opponent to fight in November. At the moment, no opponent has been named to face Alvarez for the projected November bout.
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Photo courtesy of John Locher, STF / Associated Press.
