Begic is almost 40 years old and has a resume filled mostly with obscure opposition. This sparked skepticism about whether the fight was really designed to test Sheeraz at an elite level or simply move him closer to the front of the Canelo line. The timing is important.
Canelo is scheduled to return in September against undefeated WBC champion Christian Mbilli in Riyadh. If Alvarez wins and Sheeraz captures the WBO belt as expected, the ingredients for a big 2027 event will already be there.
Sheeraz openly admitted during an interview last week that Alvarez remains a big target for him.
“A million%, a million%,” Sheeraz told Ring Magazine when asked about the eventual face of Canelo Alvarez. “I always said he was someone I took a lot of inspiration from and looked up to.”
Sheeraz also acknowledged that Alvarez currently controls the super middleweight landscape.
“He’s calling the shots at the moment, but I reckon in a year or so, if inshallah, God willing, everything goes according to plan, I’ll be in that position to be able to do that as well,” Sheeraz said.
The match with Begic added to the perception that Sheeraz was now being maneuvered more like a future attraction than a fighter still proving himself.
His knockout victory over Edgar Berlanga created huge momentum earlier this year, but questions remain about his difficult performance against Carlos Adames and the moments he struggled against Austin “Ammo” Williams before that.
Instead of dangerous contenders like Osleys Iglesias, Diego Pacheco, Lester Martinez, or even Mbilli himself, Sheeraz now finds himself one win away from a world title against a little-known veteran.
This did not stop trust building around him. Sheeraz even predicted that Alvarez would stop Mbilli within six rounds in September.
“I believe he knocks Mbilli out in six rounds,” Sheeraz said of Canelo. “Styles make fights at the end of the day.”
That prediction could ultimately determine Sheeraz’s own future.
If Canelo loses a second straight fight after last year’s loss to Terence Crawford, the commercial value of a Sheeraz-Alvarez fight changes dramatically. A fight built around Sheeraz, against a waning Alvarez facing back-to-back losses, will have a very different feel than fighting the sport’s still-active super middleweight king.
Sheeraz seems to be sitting in an ideal position. All he might need is a win over Begic and a Canelo win over Mbilli for the road to become very real.
