Canelo Alvarez to face Callum Smith, DAZN could still fight

Canelo Alvarez’s draw may be over quickly, and a fight that has been the fight many fans want for the Mexican superstar may come.

ESPN’s Salvador Rodriguez reports that Alvarez will face Callum Smith in December in Texas. There had been previous speculations that Caleb Plant might get the call, and Billy Joe Saunders’ name was also mentioned, but it appears to be Smith.

The date will be December 18, 19 or 20 – Friday through Sunday – and the location will be in Texas, either at AT&T Stadium in Arlington or the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Alvarez recently split from Golden Boy and DAZN, but that doesn’t mean DAZN won’t lead this fight, as Rodriguez says it’s “very possible” that they will. Smith is a Matchroom Boxing fighter, and of course Matchroom works with DAZN. Canelo is a free agent, appears to be his own promoter, and there’s nothing stopping him from continuing to work with DAZN as a broadcast partner, or for that matter with Golden Boy in the future if they have anyone who wants to. ‘he wants to fight.

Photo by Alex Livesey / Getty Images

Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs) won the WBA secondary “world” title at 168 pounds in December 2018, beating Rocky Fielding in what was effectively Canelo’s DAZN debut. He has since fought at 160 and 175, but has focused on 168 going forward, and Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) is still considered the best dog in this division, despite a questionable decision. against John Ryder in November. 2019, which was Smith’s last fight.

Smith, 30, holds the WBA Recognized Superworld title at 168, and is also the Ring Magazine Champion, for what it’s worth. It would be Canelo who would fight to be recognized as the No. 1 hunter in the world at 168 pounds. While there are questions about Smith, it’s not like the other biggest names in the division have done anything to defend the spot on their own.

However, with all this moving, it looks like we’re going to have a huge weekend in mid-December. We’ll have Canelo-Smith on one of the dates Friday through Sunday, Gennadiy Golovkin is looking to return that same weekend on DAZN, and now Golden Boy is hoping to hand over the rescheduled Ryan Garcia-Luke Campbell fight this weekend as well, and it would also be on DAZN. If DAZN is working with Canelo and leading this fight as well, it’s a colossal weekend for the streaming service just weeks after it went global.