November 16, 2021
Boxing News

Canelo approved to fight Makabu for WBC cruiser title

By Boxing Bob Newman

The WBC received a petition directly from Canelo Alvarez’ trainer Eddy Reynoso, for Canelo to challenge WBC CRUISERWEIGHT champion Ilunga Makabu! The WBC Board unanimously approved the petition. Canelo will be challenging for a world title in his fifth weight class!

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  • I mean I think he should fight Benavidez but that’s just me. Ilunga Makabu is strong rugged fighter. Dropped Tony Bellew and then got knocked out cold the following round. That was 5 years ago. Has stopped 7 of his last 9 opponents. As long as there is no catch weight for Canelo, I see this is a tough intriguing match up for Canelo.

    • That’s why chicken canelo is fighting him because he’s a bum. He hand picks his opponents/smoke and mirrors. Benavidez is right there waiting. Coward

      • I believe you have no idea what kind of challenge this is. This is a great fight and great challenge. Benevidez is fighting 10 rounders and can’t make weight. Fyi

  • Just wondering if future Canello fights will go back to DAZN or stay at ppv?Thinking the better fights will be ppv and the lesser opponents will be DAZN

    • @Matt Sharrett: True. Canelo deserves credit for fighting at cruiserweight, sure, but why does he say he won’t fight at light heavyweight/Beterbiev and then skip to an even heavier division?

    • Why doesn’t beterbiev move up to cruiserweight or fight bivol does he have three balls for that

  • interesting challenge for Canelo but ok go for it!!!! also id lke to see Benavidez, Charbroil, Boob Boob, Jacobs and the winner of the GGG vs Murata fight all battle it out to earn a shot for once instead of trying to “talk shit” their way into a fight with Canelo also Beterbiev and Bivol should stop avoiding each other and unify. it seems like everybody wants to demand that Canelo fight this guy or that guy because of this or that reason yet Canelo seems to be the ONLY fighter fighting why dont we ask these guys to step up and fight their way to their biggest payday

  • If somebody gave me 100 guesses as to who Canelo’s next opponent might be, Makabu wouldn’t have been one of them. They really came out of left field with this one. Interesting fight though. Curious what Canelo will weigh for this one. Maybe he’s done with 168? Makabu hit the Jackpot here…

    • Shocked. I’m wondering what he’ll weigh in as well. I would think he would bulk up a bit and maybe position himself to go to 175 after this fight. Then again, with Usyk gone, there isn’t really a monster at cruiser. If he can beat Makabu, maybe Canelo will go after Briedis.

      • @Lucie I would guess 175 would be next for Canelo. I don’t see this happening, but if he weighs 185+, and easily handles Makabu, who knows what they might pursue from there. Personally, I’d like to see him stay at 168 and fight Benavides more than anything else.

        That Makabu-Mchunu rematch they just announced went up in smoke in a hurry, didn’t it? Can’t blame Makabu and his team for making this move, but this amounts to a pie in the face for Mchunu.

        • I forgot about Mchunu. Maybe he’ll get a nice step-aside fee for this one and a spot on the undercard. I’m also wondering in what way Don King will throw himself in the middle of this. You think he’d just let it go on but it wouldn’t be the first time he stepped in to try to prevent his fighter from actually fighting.

        • Benavidez can’t even make weight he fights in a division that is too small for why doesn’t he move up to 175 and fight beterbiev or bivol he just wants to fight canelo to get a big fat check you can’t blame him for that

      • Briedis is the monster at Cruiserweight but he would never be able to make a catchweight because he walks around at about 225. If Canelo fought the Latvian with no stipulations he would not make it out of the second round.

  • Here’s a guy who’s using the alphabet boys for exactly what they’ve become – promotional vehicles for brand “Canelo Alvarez,” and nothing more.

    He’s bounced from Super Welterweight to Middleweight, then back to Super Welterweight, then back to Middleweight, then up to Super Middleweight, then back to Middleweight a third time, then a two-step jump to Light Heavyweight, then a second stint at Super Middleweight – all for one or more of the four “major” belts. Now a jump from that to Cruiserweight. From there why not a jump to this new Super Cruiser division the WBC is trying to pitch? Or if he sticks around long enough for the heavyweight title to fracture he could try a Roy Jones, Jr. and grab a heavyweight belt?

    Give him credit. 10 days after unifying the Super Middleweight division, seemingly with no more worlds to clearly conquer? He’s decided to create yet another new one. You have to respect that.

  • Why does he get a shot at a cruiserweight title when he has never fought at the weight?

    • $$$. Canelo is the cash cow of the sport right now, and because of that, fair or not, he gets to do things like this.

      • Nice reply Pete, clever. There’s guys battling up the ranks trying to get a shot, only for them to give it to Canelo. It shouldn’t matter who it is, you go to a different weight class you should have to atleast fight a contender first.

        • The WBC, WBA and WBO all allow for a reigning champion to move up or down to challenge another champion without having to wait in line. Its been invoked quite a few times. Technically, Canelo could challenge WBA and WBO champs too. I don’t recall if the IBF allows this.

    • Because he’s the undisputed super- middle-weight champion of the world he’s the cash-cow of boxing know everybody wants to fight Canelo to get a fat check

  • WBC doing WBC BS I don’t have a problem with Canelo going up in weight but go straight at 200 why all the sudden lets accommodate Canelo and change the Division limit to 190
    Can’t hate Canelo he is just making the most smart moves for his career these are money moves, at this point A LOT of people will pay just to see Canelo fight period.

  • I wonder how much Clen he will accidentally ingest for this fight.

    I happen to agree with Juan Manuel Marquez. Canelo is good but he cannot be considered amongst the greatest Mexican fighters.

    Canelo commented in the past that he became a better fighter after the Mayweather fight and he learned some things from Mayweather. He obviously adapted Mayweather’s cherry picking technique.

  • Avoids Beterbiev like the plague and ALWAYS hand picks his opponents. It’s so easy to not like the guy as a fighter. He’s doing the same thing Floyd the Fraud did. Pathetic.

    • Hand picks his opponents? He literally just beat every champion in his weight class and took all their belts.

      Did he pick who would be champion?

      And why is Canelo the one that’s cherry picking when Benevidez, Bivol, etc are avoiding each other like the plague? These guys get to fight cans while canelo is fighting champions and he’s cherry picking lol

      If any of those guys at 175 had the balls to collect a couple belts, I’m sure canelo would sign a contract to take them

      He’s cleaning out a division while all the other “good” boxers are fighting litetal noones

      • Yeah, I’ve never understood the “Canelo just cherry picks opponents” nonsense. Didn’t he move up to Light Heavyweight and stop the dangerous and very capable Sergey Kovalev? And what about undefeated Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders? What about top-notch middleweights Daniel Jacobs and Golovkin? But no, “he handpicks everyone” according to the noobs.

        • When you say stuff like that about Kovalev it just shows how ignorant and on the take that you are. At one point the Russian was a dangerous fighter but not the version that Canelo fought that night. You can pretend and delude all you want to yourself, but don’t try to fool the rest of us who can think for ourselves

          • Totally agree with you! If you watch boxing – and know the sport you have to know that Kovalev was long gone by the time Canelo fought him- which is why Team Canelo saught him out.

    • Hell, even Bivol. Cinnamon refuses to fight a dangerous fighter in his prime. Exactly the same thing Floyd never did in his whole career, and Canelo is taking the same page out of the book.

      • His whole career? I guess Corrales and Castillo and the guys he fought before 147lbs. were all out of prime non-dangerous bums? Oh and Cotto, Canelo at higher weights all bums who never won a sig. match after losing to Mayweather? Except these guys all went on win matches of importance after losing showing they weren’t out of their prime. That is such a BS excuse to take credit away from a win. I could say Bivol has fought an ancient Pascal and a limited Joe Smith who only had a win over a 50 year old Hopkins to discredit Bivol’s pro career and you call him dangerous when those are his best wins?

    • Why doesn’t beterbiev fight bivol or move up to cruiserweight if he such a dangerous fighter canelo moving up to cruiserweight and he’s only 5″8 or 5″9 feet tall give canelo credit

  • It still won’t matter to the haters. He can go to heavyweight and fight Usyk and it still won’t matter. Canelo is damed if he does and damed if he doesn’t. I’m glad he doesn’t care what the haters think. After this maybe he can go to Super Fly and fight The Monster Inoue!!

    • If he could get down in weight to the bantamweight division, it would be something. But we all see what happens when Canelo changes weight classes. He picks the easiest of the champions to fight in the particular division he travels to. Not only that, he has all types of clauses for the other fighter, then he always accidentally ingest some Clen.
      When he went to light-heavyweight, he chose Kovalev. The Kovalev he fought wasn’t even a tenth of what he was when he fought Ward the first time or when he beat Hopkins. The Kovalev he fought was completely shellshocked and was the easiest, lowest hanging fruit on the tree. He didn’t select or mention Beterbiev. If he could get to bantamweight (the class Inoue currently fights in). He would avoid him and select the easiest of the champs to fight. In the bantamweight division he would select Reymart Gaballo. The WBC would give him a special exception and change the weight limit from 118(Max) to 147. Canelo would have all sorts of clauses to stack the deck In his favor. It is very easy to determine who Canelo would select in each division. He cherry picks the easiest of the champs. This is why we don’t need 100 titles in every division. 1 champ only is necessary. If canelo moved to heavyweight he would cherry pick and fight Trevor Bryan or Charr. He would never mention Usyk or Fury but he would tout his belt earning like it is the greatest accomplishment ever. Good fighter, but not great. He is definitely a cherry-picking Prima Donna.

  • ok.. but i think there are other fights that fans would like to see.
    No catchweight or rehydration clause please

  • When I read this on Fightnews this evening I had flashbacks to the same reports in 2018 and 2019 when FN announced Canelo was stepping up to super middleweight against Rocky Fielding and Sergei Kovalev, respectively. I was thinking back then, “He didn’t want to fight Golovkin in 2016 because he was not ready for middleweight and now he is going to 168 and 175?” This is going to end with him challenging for the heavyweight title some day. I looked up Makabu on YouTube. He is not a big cruiserweight and looks slow. However he is an awkward southpaw with power. I put this in the same category as Roy Jones vs John Ruiz. We all knew Jones was way more talented but wondered what would happen if and when the much larger man hit him. Not much to write about there. Jones came through by UD and so too will Canelo.

  • Wow, that’s a big jump in weight for Canelo. Why not? I don’t think its a bad choice. He’s taking a risk and chasing glory at the same time. Hopefully the fix isn’t in.

  • I am an ardent Canelo supporter. However, this is definately an alphabet title grab! Charlo, Benavides, Bivol, Berterviev are all available and would be better for his legacy and already HOF credentials. If not fight the lineal champ at cruiser Mairis Briedis and stop the b.s!

  • I am hoping he doesnt make the same mistake Roy Jones made. With that being said, Canelo is still young and I am sure his body can handle moving up and down but at some point, he will not be able to do it anymore. Maybe his Mexican fans can convince him to stay at 168 and except some of the better fights people want to see.

    • What ‘mistake’ did Roy Jones, Jr. make, exactly? Winning the WBA heavyweight title while collecting an eight-figure payday beating up on John Ruiz? That’s not a mistake in my book – for Roy, that was an easy night’s work.

      • Yes, RJJ gained a HW title that night, made history, as whell as a sh**Load of cash. However, at his age, after shedding 25 pounds of muscle to go back down to LHW, he never again reached the peaks of his previous career, suffering a succession of embarrassing knockout defeats, and reduced to fighting journeymen and fringe fighters.

  • No matter what Canelo does, he is criticized. After watching Tyson Fury and Wilder, two glorified amateurs who seem to fight every two years, I’m far more appreciative of Canelo. He’s a great fighter and fights often. He’s humble, respectful, and prepares himself properly for each fight. This will be an interesting matchup. More power to him.

  • I get it…win a world title in a fifth weight division, join some elite company (Hearns, Leonard, Pacquiao, Mayweather, De La Hoya), be the first guy to win world titles from jr. middle all the way up to cruiserweight (not counting Hearns’ WBU cruiser strap by blowing out Lenny Lapaglia in 1995), becoming the first Mexican fighter to win world titles in five weight divisions…makes sense to take this fight for the low-risk/high-reward ratio. He still needs to deal with Benavides and Beterbiev at some point because they’re not going away. The RJJ comparison is apropos to a degree as RJJ went up to fight Ruiz without first taking care of business at light heavyweight against Tarver, only to eventually have to face Tarver after going back down to light heavyweight and never being the same as far as strength and reflexes go. Canelo may as well face his real threats in Benavides and Beterbiev now while he’s still strong instead of facing them later after going up to cruiserweight and having to struggle to come back down to super middleweight and light heavyweight.

    • Good point, but Jones did take care of Tarver in the first match, he never should have agreed to the rematch and let ego goad him into that. Probably should have listened to his body and retired on top.

  • always interesting that he skips over the tough fight in Beterbiev because he knows he will get smashed. Then wants to go to cruiser weight… Good for him I guess to try and add another title. Can wait to see all the stipulations in that contract. we already know his rehydration clauses.

  • You ask why not fight Breidis? It’s much easier for him to get a Cruiserweight title shot from the WBC. They are more willing to bend the rules for their countryman.

  • junior isn’t a worldbeater but he has a world title in a division that is heavy in talent on the titlists only usually.
    That WBC moving the weight back down to 190 limit makes this all the more appealing. Canelo won’t have to do much to drop or gain weight if he has been used to 168 already. I assume he walks around between fights and training already in the high 170’s or low 180’s right? And he has double the fights of Makabu, and probably 10X the # of title fights by now.
    makes sense they would pick off a titlist with just one defense and a loss to Tony Bellew.
    It’s not like they wanted a cruiserweight title fight vs Usyk when he was there.
    Good timing my friend. You have learned wisely from Floyd.

  • Makabu will make enough money to set himself and his generation up for many lifetimes in his poor African nation, but he does have to hand over his world title in a fixed fight for that to happen. Breidis has too much pride to oblige team Canelo in a throne fight, and Canelo would be brutally knocked out by the Latvian in three rounds or less. The Chinny Makabu will have so many sanctions against him that he will enter the ring nearly a deadman and probably get stopped late.

  • The WBC is dropping the Cruiserweight limit to 190. That lowers the degree of difficulty for this fight by making Makabu boil down. Canelo is a great fighter but like others before him with all the sanctioning bodies he’s belt collecting. He probably weighs in around 180-182 and takes care of a drained Makabu.
    .

  • Canelo is a great fighter, but he does have a distinct habit of selecting weak and fading champions to enhance his legacy. Benavides, Beterbiev, Bivol, Charlo and even GGG are obvious dangerous chellenges at 168-175. His “draw” against GGG in their 1st fight was widely discredited as a robbery. A rubber match would make a lot of sense (a bit like the Wilder-Fury trilogy). And if Canelo is determined to dip his toe into cruiserweight, everyone knows that Breidis is the real champion at that weight. Breidis narrowly lost by majority decision to the excellent Usyk. So of course Canelo chooses Makabu, a game, competent but limited fighter. In addition, we can be sure that Canelo’s legal team will introduce all kinds of novel rehydration clauses and catchweight clauses, and weigh-in date clauses, location clauses, etc.
    Having said that, Canelo legitimately displayed his superiority against legit challengers Smith, Jacobs, and Saunders. Kovalev was a shot fighter. Canelo is probably casting an eye over jean Pascal’s belt right now. He fits the bill perfectly. Aged, limited, known name.

  • What a stinker of a fight. They don’t know Makabu in his own zip code and then Canelo & team are carting this tomato can out as the Frazier side of the ticket to Ali?? Are you kidding me?? This has to be the least challenged P4P Champion ever (Canelo). So bummed that my countryman hasn’t put a real fighter in front of him since GGG. For the record, I had GGG winning their 1st fight and I leaned GGG in fight 2 but “would” have accepted a draw but 2 W’s for Canelo is a joke against GGG. He needs to get in the ring w/ Benavides or the other 2 guys worthy of a fight who I can’t think of right now. Ugh! Terrence Crawford is the man in boxing right now for a reason in my book.

  • IMO, This is beyond a joke. This is a first. Fight for years at one class because you can’t make the weight, then, overnight, I’ll fight here, go up to there, come back here, go up a little higher, then go all the way up there, all while collecting trinkets along the way.

    All of these decisions being made as you slowly turn into the Hulk. Let’s see how this unfolds.

    At least he’s not testing the waters against Briedis.

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