Canelo Alvarez announces he'll fight in September for PBC; Jermall Charlo a potential opponent
Canelo Alvarez took to social media Thursday to announce a done deal for September. The undisputed super middleweight champion noted he'd be fighting on a Premier Boxing Champions card, though he didn't identify an opponent, a specific date and/or venue. ESPN's Mike Coppinger reported Thursday evening that Alvarez has a three-year deal with PBC with Jermall Charlo likely up next.
Alvarez's team has been public about a potential fight with Charlo, who held the interim WBC middleweight title when Alvarez was the regular WBC champion. Charlo hasn't fought since 2021, and WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said in May that Charlo had been battling mental health issues.
Yahoo Sports reached Sulaiman on Thursday in Venice, Italy, where he said he wasn't aware that a deal between the two had been finalized but said he knew the sides had been talking.
"Charlo has been looking for this fight for a long, long time," Sulaiman told Yahoo Sports. "First it was Triple G [Gennadiy] Golovkin and then it was Canelo. I think he's really hungry for this fight."
An Alvarez-Charlo fight for the undisputed super middleweight title would be yet another in a now long line of major bouts put together in 2023. If Alvarez-Charlo occurs it would give Charlo an opportunity to join his brother as an undisputed world champion. Jermell Charlo is currently the undisputed 154-pound champion.
Given the way boxing has gone the last few years, when opportunities to make compelling and significant fights were squandered, 2023 is shaping up as one of the best in recent memory. Earlier Thursday, Matchroom's Eddie Hearn announced a mega-bout at flyweight between unbeaten WBO champion Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KOs) and unbeaten IBF champion Sunny Edwards (20-0, 4 KOs).
The bout is expected to be held in November or December.
The big news, though, was Alvarez making a deal with the PBC. He'd been challenged earlier in the month by David Benavidez, the WBC interim champion. Benavidez couldn't get a deal done with Alvarez and was briefly linked to a bout with David Morrell Jr., in what would be a sensational bout.
If Alvarez does face Charlo, a Benavidez-Morrell bout would make a great co-headliner.
Alvarez, who is coming off a one-sided decision over John Ryder, is at least doing his bit to keep boxing's best year in a while going.
