Ranking the 5 Best Opponents for Canelo Alvarez's Next Fight

It's good to be the king.

And now that he's returned to the win column with a trilogy-capping defeat of Gennadiy Golovkin in Las Vegas, Canelo Alvarez can get back to his other vocation.

Matchmaking.

The pound-for-pound stalwart and pay-per-view ace has his pick of the litter when it comes to foes for his next event, which he suggested Saturday night may occur next spring to allow time for rest and surgery on his damaged left hand.

Given his history of jumping back and forth between weight classes, the opponent landscape is particularly open for Alvarez, who's reigned in four divisions and has held belts at either 168 pounds, 175 pounds or both in every calendar year since 2018.

The B/R combat team weighed factors including competition, significance and promotional accessibility in ranking the would-be rivals on the way to whittling the list down to five.

Scroll through to see who made the cut and drop us a thought or two in the comments.

Turns out Alvarez isn't the only guy who jumps weight classes.

Nicknamed "Hit Man," the Texas-born Charlo earned his first title belt seven years ago at 154 pounds. Then, in 2019 he climbed to middleweight and grabbed the WBC championship that Alvarez had won from Golovkin a year earlier and subsequently vacated.

He's since run his record to 32-0 with 22 KOs, but he hasn't yet landed a career-defining, wallet-fattening fight.

Charlo and Alvarez have considered the idea of a match at various times in the past, and it was reported last winter that the Mexican was weighing offers for either a one-off match with Charlo or a two-fight deal that would yield bouts with Bivol and Golovkin.

He ultimately chose the two-fight path and raked in a reported $45 million on Saturday night alone, but a bout with an unbeaten American slugger who'd have edges in both height (6'1" to 5'8") and reach (73.5" to 70.5") would present a compelling stylistic challenge for a fighter who's long said he strives for those sorts of opportunities.

And now, we climb another rung on the challenge ladder.

Like Bivol, Beterbiev is a reigning champion at 175 pounds and walked away with the IBF, WBC and WBO title belts after a crunching second-round TKO of Joe Smith Jr. in June.

The win boosted his career mark to 18-0 with 18 KOs since turning pro nine years ago.

Unlike Bivol, who relies on speed, footwork and technique to win his fights, the 37-year-old Canada-based Russian leans further toward violence than nuance in the ring.

Perfect KO record notwithstanding, it's that approach that might make him at least slightly more palatable for Alvarez, who's been bamboozled in the past by stylists like Bivol, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Erislandy Lara. However, Alvarez has already climbed to 175 for a highlight-worthy stoppage of wrecking machine Sergey Kovalev in 2019.

"Canelo is a risk-taker, and that makes him so popular," promoter Bob Arum, who works with Beterbiev, told Sky Sports. "It would be a massive fight because the betting action would go both ways. Some will say Beterbiev is too big and powerful. Others will say Canelo is special and can handle everybody.

"It is one of the biggest fights in boxing."

There are challenges, and then there are challenges.

The idea of a full-on leap past 175 pounds for a catchweight date with a reigning three-belt heavyweight king is certainly the sort of challenge reserved for the latter category.

Usyk was an Olympic champion at 91 kilograms (200 pounds) in 2012 and became a unified professional champion at cruiserweight before leaving for a full-time heavyweight run that began in 2019. He won the IBF, WBA and WBO belts there with an upset of Anthony Joshua last September and legitimized that win with a rematch defeat of Joshua last month.

Alvarez floated the idea of a Usyk bout shortly before his loss to Bivol in May, and both he and Usyk were still chatting it up leading into the Golovkin finale on Saturday.

"It's difficult, but I don't care. I like that kind of challenge," Alvarez told FightHype. "It's going to be difficult, I know, but I love boxing. I love being in that kind of situation."

Though he's a smallish heavyweight, Usyk would still stand seven inches taller than Alvarez and possess a seven-plus-inch advantage in reach, alongside the technical acumen that allowed him to strategically school Joshua for most of their 24 rounds together.

The financial payout would probably veer toward remarkable. Whether that's enough to warrant the competitive risk, though, is what it'll likely come down to, according to ex-HBO blow-by-blow man Jim Lampley.

"The real money is in the Usyk fight," he told Bleacher Report. "But I think Canelo prefers winning to money."

Time to call in the body language experts.

Alvarez wasted no time in the aftermath of Saturday's trilogy-clincher before saying that a rematch with his light-heavyweight nemesis Bivol is the fight he wants most upon returning from hand surgery.

"Everybody knows (I want the rematch)," he told DAZN's Chris Mannix, conceding that Bivol has a scheduled fight with unbeaten Gilberto Ramirez in early November.

"(A rematch is) very important for my legacy, for my pride, for my country, for my family, for everything. It's very important.

"I will beat him."

That's easier said than done given the one-sidedness of Bivol's victory in May. The fight was judged 7-5 in rounds across the board, but it seemed far more like a 9-3.

That disparity has prompted some to suggest Alvarez might only talk about a Bivol fight rather than actually make it happen. Instead, he might pursue and accept matches against less tricky and/or more lucrative foes.

"Canelo won't acknowledge there is a 'he'll never beat' list. Too proud for that," Lampley said. "Windows are closing, so get the money."

Alvarez has said 168 is his most comfortable weight.

And with the Golovkin win, he's boosted his super middle record to a pristine 7-0.

Well, whaddya know? There just happens to be another fighter in the division who checks off all the boxes for a compelling match, including youth (25), unbeaten record (26-0, 23 KOs), title-holding pedigree (two reigns as WBC champion) and mandatory challenger status.

Make no mistake—it's a fight Benavidez covets and believes he should get.

“I feel like I was the No. 1 contender already when I won the title eliminator. Now, I won the interim title," he said after stopping ex-middleweight claimant David Lemieux in May.

"So it was two fights. I was the No. 1 contender, so I do feel like I deserve it. I put the work in.”

Whether he'll get it or not is another matter.

Like several other prospective foes, Benavidez is taller (6'0.5" to 5'8") and has a longer reach (74.5" to 70.5") than Alvarez, but his 88.5-percent KO rate adds an element of real danger not as apparent with any other would-be opponent in the weight class.

And because Benavidez never lost his titles in the ring—he surrendered one after a failed drug test and another after missing weight—he still considers himself a legitimate champion.

It may not be the most likely choice for Alvarez, according to Sirius XM radio host and former The Ring editor Randy Gordon, but it's got the goods to be the best.

"The biggest fight at 168 is Canelo vs. David Benavidez," he told Bleacher Report.

"While Canelo is still in his prime, he should go after that fight and stop hoping Benavidez goes away. That could easily be 2023's fight of the year."