Canelo Alvarez looks set to face weekly champion Illunga Makabu

Canelo Alvarez and Co. revealed another bold move.

Alvarez and his team asked the WBC at its congress in Mexico City to approve a showdown between the Mexican superstar and £200 belt winner Ilunga Makabu next spring and the sanctioning body is said to have signed on. the.

The driving force for Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) was the chance to win the grand slam in the fifth weight division.

Jermall Charlo, David Benavidez, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol are still contenders to face Alvarez in the future but the newly crowned 168-pound champion clearly wants to make more history.

Follow ESPN.

“I know… what he does with the heavyweights he ignores, and that’s why we asked for the fight,” said Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez coach and manager, told ESPN. “We know that [Makabu] very strong, but Canelo can defeat him. … A lot of people might say that’s crazy, but they also say that it’s crazy that Canelo is the junior middleweight champion and we’re looking for middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweights.

“I have a lot of confidence in Canelo. He’s very strong and has a lot of qualities, and I know he’s going to win that game.”

.@Canelo with @junior_makabu

Class of cruiser

Alvarez will aim to be the world champion in the fifth weight class! # WBCMX59 pic.twitter.com/c9xADjKpYd

– World Boxing Council (@WBCBoxing) November 16, 2021

Alvarez’s timing may have been good in another sense: WBC was set to reduce the cruiser class limit to 190 pounds after the establishment of the bridge division, which had a 224 pound limit.

WBC has not announced when the adjustment will be made. Of course, it will benefit Alvarez a lot.

Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the WBC, seems excited about the amazing turn of events.

“The WBC has unanimously approved Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez to fight for the WBC world cruiser class title. Congratulations, Eddy,” said Sulaiman, according to Dan Rafael. “It was a very, very big, one-of-a-kind surprise, but I’m sure he will continue to make history. Congratulations.”

Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs) started his career in the light heavyweight division but the 34-year-old has been fighting in the cruiser weight class since 2010 and is 6 meters tall, which should give him the edge in natural size significantly compared to Alvarez.

He won his title overtaking Michal Cieslak last January and successfully defended it by stopping Olanrewaju Durodola for seven rounds last December. Makabu was stopped for three rounds by Tony Bellew on his first header shot, in 2016.

Alvarez made the big jump, going from 160 pounds to 175 pounds to challenge title winner Sergey Kovalev, whom he stopped after 11 rounds. Moving from super-middleweight to cruiserweight is a bold move, much like Roy Jones Jr’s move from 175th to heavyweight to face John Ruiz.