Canelo Alvarez vs. Callum Smith Booked for December 19
We finally have the return of Canelo Alvarez upon us, who’s widely considered the No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer on the planet.
He is set to face Callum Smith in a 168 lb title unification bout on December 19. The bout is expected to take place at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, live on pay-per-view. Promoter Eddie Hearn and Canelo Alvarez both confirmed the news earlier today:
Canelo was in talks of facing IBF Super-Middleweight Champion Caleb Plant on this said date, but it appears those talks fell through and he’s fighting WBA (Super) and The Ring Super-Middleweight Champion Callum Smith instead.
Honestly, this is a good thing, this is a better match up. Plant is a very good boxer, but he’s just 20-0 with three title fights. Smith is 27-0 with over ten title fights. Canelo being 53-1-2, the more experienced opponent, the better.
We almost got to see how Canelo would deal with Plants range, being four inches shorter with a three-and-a-half reach disadvantage.
He’s not out of the woods as far as that goes however, as Smith is even lankier and rangier than Plant. Smith stands 6’3” and boasts a 78” reach, while Canelo stands 5’9” with a 70.5” reach.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how he deals with that. Will he be able to get on the inside to uncork those bombs he has? We’ll have to wait and see.
19 of Smith’s 27 victories come via knockout, and 36 of Canelo’s 53 victories come via knockout, including his last fight where he went up to 178 lbs to take the WBO light-heavyweight title from Sergey Kovalev.
As mentioned above, this fight will be a super middleweight-title unification bout. Canelo will be defending his WBA super-middleweight title, and Smith will be defending his WBA (Super) and The Ring super-middleweight titles, winner take all.
Who do you see walking away with the three championships?
