Canelo Alvarez fights Jermell Charlo in three weeks

Having captured world titles at 154, 160, 168 and 175-pounds, Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs) will enter the ring for yet another super fight as he looks to become the first man during the four-belt era to defend all four titles successfully three consecutive times. The fighting pride of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Canelo became undisputed at super middleweight in November 2021 by taking the IBF belt from then unbeaten Caleb Plant via an 11^th-round TKO headlining a SHOWTIME PPV. After dropping a light heavyweight title fight against Dmitriy Bivol in May 2022, Canelo rebounded to defeat Gennadiy Golovkin in their September 2022 trilogy fight before most recently defeating John Ryder in May.

Under the guidance of his renowned coach Reynoso, Canelo has triumphed over a long list of elite fighters since turning pro at just 15-years-old in 2005, including Golovkin twice, plus Shane Mosley, Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto and Sergey Kovalev to name a few. Outside of the Bivol fight, Canelo’s only other defeat came against undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather in September 2013.

“I’m very happy that we got to make a fight of this magnitude between two undisputed champions,” said Canelo. “Jermell Charlo has also faced the best in his division, and I’m glad that the fans are going to enjoy a world class fight between us on September 30.”

Houston’s Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs) unified the junior middleweight titles in emphatic fashion his last time out, knocking out Brian Castaño in round 10 of their May 2022 rematch, after they fought to a draw in a July 2021 slugfest. The 33-year-old became a unified champion in September 2020, dropping Jeison Rosario three times on his way to an eighth-round knockout that earned him the WBA and IBF titles. Before that fight, Charlo had avenged the only loss of his career as he reclaimed his WBC belt via an 11^th-round knockout of Tony Harrison in one of 2019’s best fights.

Charlo is trained by 2022 BWAA “Trainer of the Year” Derrick James in Dallas and won his first world title in his debut fight with James by scoring an eighth-round knockout of John Jackson in 2016. He followed up that victory with three successful defenses, knocking out Erickson Lubin and Charles Hatley, and winning a decision over former world champion Austin Trout. Charlo and his twin brother and two-division champion Jermall, who fight under their Lions Only banner, made history in 2016, becoming the first twins in boxing history to simultaneously hold world championships in the same weight class.

“I’m really excited to make history once again on September 30,” said Charlo. “This is the biggest fight in boxing and I’m coming to leave it all in the ring like I do every time. I manifested this fight into existence and earned it with everything I’ve done in this sport so far. Canelo is a great fighter, but he’s gonna see what Lions Only is all about. When the fight’s over, people are gonna have to recognize that I’m the best fighter in the sport.”