Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez isn’t just content with his status as the world’s pound-for-pound best boxer.
The Mexican standout, who handed Caleb Plant the first defeat of his career a couple of weekends ago to become the undisputed super middleweight world champion, has set his sights on becoming a five-weight world champ and will move to the cruiserweight division to take on Ilunga Makabu for his WBC crown.
This comes after WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman officially signed off on allowing Alvarez to compete in their cruiserweight fold in his bed to cement his legacy as one of the finest boxers in history.
“The WBC has approved unanimously Canelo to fight for the WBC cruiserweight championship,” said Sulaiman. “This is a surprise to me but I’m sure he will continue to make history.”
Only five men have successfully won titles in five different divisions in boxing history; Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Oscar De La Hoya, while Amanda Serrano and Naoko Fujioka have done the same in the women’s game.
Makabu, meanwhile, is currently the only world champion to hail from the African continent and has won nine fights is a row since he was defeated by the now-retired Tony Bellew at Goodison Park in 2016.
It remains to be seen exactly when the cruiserweight showdown will occur — but Canelo has been in incredibly active form in the past year. He has fought four times in the past 11 months, defeating the likes of Callum Smith, Avni Yildirim, Billy Joe Saunders and, two weeks ago, Caleb Plant.
