Canelo Alvarez no longer holds a super-middleweight world title, but that hasn’t stopped a host of his 168lb rivals from targeting a fight with him.
Alvarez lost as a super-middleweight for the first time when he was outpointed by Terence Crawford last year, but the 35-year-old will have the opportunity to reclaim the WBC belt upon his return in September when he fights new champion Christian Mbilli.
Victory will see Canelo continue into the next era of the super-middleweight division as a man with a target on his back, as a number of fresh-faced operators each jostle to land a lucrative scrap with the four-division world champion.
One of those men is California’s Diego Pacheco, who had been positioned for a shot at the WBO super-middleweight world title against Hamzah Sheeraz until he withdrew from purse bids and allowed Sheeraz to fight Alem Begic – who was halted inside two rounds by the Brit.
In an interview with ESNEWS, Pacheco named his three-man hitlist, which included both Canelo and Sheeraz, as well as WBA super-middleweight titleholder Jaime Munguia.
“[Jaime] Munguia, [Hamzah] Sheeraz and Canelo, [that is who I want]. I think that me and Munguia go the distance, I stop Hamzah Sheeraz and me and Canelo go the distance, as well, but I win all three, for sure.”
Pacheco recently extended his contract with Matchroom Boxing and he will hope to maintain his 25-fight undefeated record when he appears on home soil against Immanuwel Aleem, on the Cruz-Bell undercard on Saturday, July 18.