Canelo Alvarez targeted for unification fight if he beats Christian Mbilli in comeback

Canelo Alvarez hopes to bounce back and reclaim world honours upon his return to action in September, and should he be successful, there is another 168lbs titleholder that is waiting in the wings for a unification clash.

When Alvarez lost his undisputed crown to Terence Crawford, the belts soon became fragmented due to the American’s retirement. Since then, Jaime Munguia has dethroned Armando Resendiz for the WBA strap, Osleys Iglesias halted Pavel Silyagin for the IBF crown and Christian Mbilli, who Canelo fights next, was elevated to full champion.

On Saturday, the last of Canelo’s former titles was captured, as Hamzah Sheeraz ran through Alem Begic with ease to claim the vacant WBO super-middleweight world championship.

Speaking to iFL TV, Sheeraz’s promoter Frank Warren praised the efforts of both his fighter and his team over at Queensberry Promotions.

“There is a lot of work been put into him [Sheeraz] and I have got to tell you, we worked very hard to make that match for the world title, very hard. There was a lot of lobbying and that was about the best option you could get to win a world title – that is called great matchmaking and really guiding someone’s career correctly.

“Congratulations to him, he has done extremely well and we will be looking to see what the next big fight is going to be.”

Warren then went on to admit that Canelo would be the preferred next option for the Slough-born champion, if he manages to get the better of Mbilli in less than four months’ time. 

“I would think that [Canelo is next on Sheeraz’s radar], but Canelo has got to win. We’ll see what Canelo has got left in the tank. It is going to be interesting.”

Sheeraz has also been linked to an appearance on the Canelo-Mbilli undercard, where he could accept a different unification by taking on Canelo’s stablemate and reigning WBA champion, Munguia.