Canelo Alvarez Returning To DAZN, Will Face Callum Smith On December 19
Canelo Alvarez is back and he’ll be fighting on DAZN once more.
Appearing on a live video on his Instagram account, the multi-time world champion announced that he will fight WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith on December 19. The fight will be streamed on DAZN at a venue yet to be announced. It will be the first time Alvarez campaigns at 168 pounds since he defeated Rocky Fielding on Alvarez’s DAZN debut back in December 2018 at Madison Square Garden.
Alvarez and trainer Eddy Reynoso did state that plans to secure all the details regarding a venue are about 80 percent. An announcement regarding that will happen in the coming days.
Canelo vs. Callum Smith: December 19 on DAZN
ⓘ 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 pic.twitter.com/PP1A1shOak
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) November 17, 2020
For Alvarez, this will be his first fight since he knocked out Sergey Kovalev back in November 2019 to win the WBO light heavyweight title. Since then, Alvarez had a rollercoaster of a year that featured less fighting inside the ring and more fighting during negotiations and in court.
Initially, Alvarez was in talks with IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant for a fight that would have seen PBC getting involved. However, Alvarez noted that a deal could not be reached for a fight before the end of the year.
Smith is the winner of the inaugural World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament, defeating George Groves in the tournament finals back in 2018. Since then, Smith has been looking for bigger fights. Smith, often regarded as one of the division’s best boxers, is coming off a win over Hassan N’Dam in June 2019. He followed it up with a controversial decision win over John Ryder in November 2019.
However, the Instagram Live session didn’t just end with the fight announcement. Alvarez and Reynoso answered fan questions and one of them included Alvarez’s future at middleweight. Alvarez currently holds the WBA middleweight title, but has yet to defend the title since he defeated Daniel Jacobs back in May 2019.
Regarding the Mexican star’s plans at middleweight, Reynoso admitted it’s hard for him to plan anything at that weight at the moment. Reynoso said it’s hard for Alvarez to think about middleweight and that he would only go back for a third fight against Gennadiy Golovkin. Outside of that, Reynoso said Alvarez will soon forget about middleweight altogether and focus on super middleweight.
After plans for a return to the ring earlier this year failed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Alvarez was in a legal battle with both DAZN and former promoter Golden Boy Promotions. Ultimately, Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions went their separate ways, but now Alvarez will return to DAZN for at least one more fight.
