February 26, (THEWILL) – Canelo Alvarez has reportedly agreed to a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing, which will kick off on May 7 when he takes on Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light heavyweight title.
The agreement’s second fight will be a trilogy bout between Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, if both boxers win their next fights. There was no immediate word on a date for the meeting.
Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs), is currently putting himself in shape for a professional fight in April versus Ryoto Murata, which deal he is working hard to finalise.
In November, Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) unified the super middleweight category by knocking out Caleb Plant in the 11th round to win the IBF title. He previously had the WBA, WBC, WBO, and The Ring titles in the division.
His lone previous light heavyweight fight was in November of this year, when he knocked out Sergey Kovalev to earn the WBO title, which he later relinquished.
In the other corner for the first of the two fights, Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) has held the WBA light heavyweight title since November 2017. His most recent victory came in December, when he scored a unanimous decision victory over Umar Salamov.
In April, the 31-year-old Russian stated publicly that he was considering a fight with Alvarez: “Of course I would like to fight him at light heavyweight or super middleweight because I want to fight the best guys, and he is one of the best.”
In the meanwhile, Alvarez battled Golovkin in 2017 and 2018. The first fight ended in a split decision tie, while the Mexican superstar won by majority decision in the second.
Since his victory in 2018, Alvarez has stated that he is not interested in a trilogy fight, though he has kept the door open if the price is right.
In comments made in 2019, Alvarez has noted: “I said it before the fight, and I’m going to repeat it. For me, that fight presents no challenge to me right now. We fought two times, 24 rounds. I beat him, so he represents no challenge.
“However, what he does represent is some good business, so if they offer me something really good, maybe the third fight can happen.”
With a pay day of $85 million, which is the guaranteed portion of his Matchroom Boxing deal, the path has now opened to see Alvarez return for the trilogy.
If neither of their fights ends in a draw, their next fight is expected to take place in late 2022. Alvarez has returned to the ring in early November the last two times he fought in May (2019 and 2021).
If everything goes as planned, the third meeting could be a contender for Fight of the Year.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
