Now that Artur Beterbiev has made mandatory defenses of his two light heavyweight titles in 2021, he is more than ready for what would be by far the biggest fight of his career.
The Russian knockout artist would welcome a lucrative showdown with Canelo Alvarez next if the Mexican icon is inclined to move back into the light heavyweight division. Alvarez has publicly discussed jumping up all the way to the cruiserweight division for his next bout, but there is significantly more interest among boxing fans in an Alvarez-Beterbiev fight.
“Listen, of course I am open to fighting Canelo if he wants to return to the light heavyweight division,” Beterbiev told BoxingScene.com following his ninth-round knockout of Marcus Browne on Friday night at Bell Centre in Montreal. “I always want to fight the best, and he is a great fighter.”
Staten Island’s Browne (24-2, 16 KOs) was the WBC’s mandatory challenger for Beterbiev’s belt. In Beterbiev’s previous appearance, he satisfied his mandatory obligation with the IBF by stopping Russian Adam Deines (20-2-1, 11 KOs) in the 11th round March 20 at Khodynka Ice Palace in Moscow.
The 31-year-old Alvarez already has won a light heavyweight title during his celebrated career. He knocked out Russia’s Sergey Kovalev in the 11th round of a highly competitive fight to win the WBO belt in November 2019 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) was the same age then, 36, as Beterbiev is today, but Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) is considered a fresher fighter than Kovalev was when he defended his 175-pound crown versus Alvarez.
Mexico’s Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) relinquished the WBO light heavyweight title without defending it to pursue full unification in the super middleweight division. He defeated previously unbeaten champions Callum Smith (WBA), Billy Joe Saunders (WBO) and Caleb Plant (IBF) over an 11-month span on his way to becoming boxing’s first undisputed 168-pound champion.
After stopping Plant in the 11th round November 6 at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s manager and trainer, revealed at the WBC’s annual convention last month his interest in boxing WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu.
The 34-year-old Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs), a southpaw from The Democratic Republic of The Congo, is scheduled to make a mandated defense of his WBC belt versus South African southpaw Thabiso Mchunu (23-5, 13 KOs) on January 29 at Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio. In addition to the Makabu-Mchunu winner, Alvarez also is believed to be interested in boxing WBA light heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) or WBC middleweight champ Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) when he returns to the ring early in May.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.