Boxing’s number one star Canelo Alvarez has exclusively told World Boxing News he will not be taking up Don King’s offer to attend a cruiserweight title fight.
King had outlined that the Mexican superstar would be ringside when Junior Makabu defends his WBC title against Thabiso Mchunu.
The pair will square off in a WBC mandatory clash on January 29 at the Packard Music Hall in Warren.
When announcing the bout, King had said: “The winner will advance to fight Mexico’s grand champion, Canelo Alvarez, in May.
“Alvarez will be ringside in Warren, OH to see who his next opponent will be.”
Canelo confirmed this wasn’t the case in an interview with WBN’s Dan Rafael.
“No, I don’t think so,” Alvarez told WBN when asked if he would be attending Makabu vs. Mchunu.
CRUISERWEIGHT
Nonetheless, Makabu and Mchunu will trade blows hoping that Canelo will pick the winner for his scheduled appearance in Las Vegas this coming May.
Makabu (28-2 with 25 KOs) is from the Democratic Republic of The Congo. He defended his championship in his hometown of Kinshasa as he stopped Nigeria’s Olanrewaju Durodola with two solid left hooks in the seventh round last December.
After losing to Tony Bellew for the cruiserweight crown, Makabu has won his last nine decisions. He won the vacant WBC title on January 31 of 2020, winning a unanimous decision against Michael Cieslak.
Thabiso (23-5, 13 KOs), who hails from South Africa and is nicknamed “The Rock,” became the WBC Silver titlist against Denis Lebedev on December 21, 2019.
He last defended his title and scored another unanimous victory over Evgeny Tishchenko on March 27, 2021. Thabiso has won his last four fights.
Hall of Famer King is looking forward to staging another big night that holds significance in the boxing world due to the potential future involvement of Canelo.
“This is going to be one action packed WBC world championship fight. A very big fight is on the horizon for the winner,” said King.
“They are both warriors. This war for recognizing the homeless will start the new year in grand style, recognizing the homeless and helping others.”
Phil Jay – Editor of World Boxing News since 2010 with over one billion views. Follow WBN on Twitter @WorldBoxingNews.
