Canelo Alvarez is set to soon return to the 168lbs scene and there are a host of new players at the weight hoping to get the chance to face him. One of those men is a newly crowned world champion, and Canelo has now responded to his call-out.
Canelo lost all four recognised super-middleweight world titles to Terence Crawford in September and they have since been picked up by Hamzah Sheeraz (WBO), Jaime Munguia (WBA), Osleys Iglesias (IBF) and Christian Mbilli (WBC), whom he will face in September.
However, if successful in regaining the 168lb throne against Mbilli, Sheeraz and Iglesias have made it clear that they would like to pursue a potential unification against the Mexican superstar.
Although, in a recent interview, Iglesias insinuated that Canelo ‘would not want’ to face him, believing that he would not be granted with a unification opportunity, despite his position as the reigning IBF world champion.
“It’s complicated. It’s complicated with Canelo. Canelo would not want to fight me. I would hope that he would give me the fight and allow me to demonstrate that Cuban fighters and more specifically, Osleys Iglesias, is a different breed.
“We will leave it up to God and God willing, he will give me the opportunity to fight him.”
In response, Canelo has now told DAZN Boxing that Iglesias and Sheeraz could earn that opportunity by facing one another.
“I never checked that [potential fights with Hamzah Sheeraz or Osleys Iglesias]. I think that they need to fight each other and then I find out the winner. That is the most smart thing that they can do.
“We all, at some point, we need to earn what we deserve, right? They need to earn it [a fight with me], why not? That is why I say that they need to [fight each other] and I don’t say that they don’t deserve it.
“They deserve it, that is why they are there as champions or number ones or whatever.
“But, they need to fight each other and then, after my fight, we will see.”
Iglesias, who has 14 knockouts from his 15 victories, is believed to be in talks for a difficult first defence against reigning WBC middleweight world champion Carlos Adames, who is expected to soon vacate his belt ahead of a move up to the super-middleweight division.
