Promoter Eddie Hearn does not know who Canelo Alvarez will fight in May before he faces Terence Crawford in September. IBF super middleweight champion William Scull is the one that makes sense if Canelo wants to recapture that belt to become undisputed again.
There aren’t many options for Canelo to fight in May unless he wants to take on some tougher fighters, like Christian Mbilli or Diego Pacheco. Hearn is reluctant to let the 23-year-old Pacheco fight Canelo so early in his career and see him get beaten.
Canelo’s loyalty
“I don’t know who Canelo is going to fight in May. Who will he fight, William Scull? Charlo? PBC doesn’t seem to be doing the business with the Crawford fight. I don’t think they necessarily want to fight him. Canelo, it’s not that he has no loyalty, but he also doesn’t give up. Business is business. If it works for Canelo Alvarez, it works for Canelo Alvarez,” said Eddie Hearn. Sean Zittel when asked if he thinks Canelo will fight for Riyadh season in May.
“It’s like with us. we did an amazing job for him. when we had nothing for him, he went somewhere else. As long as you understand it and know it and you have that relationship. I thought he liked working with us, but suddenly we can only give him the Bivol rematch, and he doesn’t want the rematch, he goes elsewhere.
“I feel that if he feels he can negotiate that battle himself with His Excellency, he will do it himself, and I think that’s what he’s doing. I think it will be in the United States. The problem with the Riyadh fights for American audiences, His Excellency is not going to have a fight at 7:00 in the morning Riyadh time, which is the time zone required for an American pay-per-view.
Hearn thinks the Canelo vs. Terence Crawford fight will be in the US rather than Riyadh because for it to draw numbers in the States, it will have to be at normal hours for pay-per-view events. Performing it in Riyadh would mean showing it in the early afternoon, and that wouldn’t work.
“Crawford-Canelo in the afternoon at 2 p.m. is not going to do the numbers that it would,” Hearn said. “Crawford-Canelo will do big numbers on PPV in America. I don’t know, but I think that fight will take place in America. Canelo showed up at the Ring Magazine Awards, and he wouldn’t do it if there wasn’t a huge financial opportunity for him because it’s not his kind of thing,” Hearn said.
