WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol 18-0 (11) is already in training for a proposed fight against WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 56-1-2 (38) on September 18 despite no contracts being signed yet.
Mexican superstar Alvarez, 31, has been clear that his top priority is to unify all major world titles at 168-pounds but his mooted September fight against undefeated IBF champion Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant 21-0 (12) has hit a number of roadblocks in negotiations and appears to be dead in the water.
With the date less than seven weeks away now it would seem that if Alvarez and Plant can’t iron out their issues this week then the bout will not proceed.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has always had Bivol, 30, as a back-up option and the undefeated Russian and his team are clearly keen on the fight.
“So we’ve been in touch with Dmitry and they are ready to fight Canelo Alvarez on September the 18th,” Matchroom Boxing boss Hearn told The DAZN Boxing Show.
“They have been sort of training really for the last two or three weeks in the hope that they do get that pick.
“Bivol is the front runner in my opinion for that slot on September the 18th. I think if it’s not Bivol then I think there is a very good chance that September 18 will be put on hold and we will move on to another date and potentially another opponent.”
Alvarez, who turned professional as a junior welterweight 16 years ago, has grown to become the biggest name in the sport. He won his first world championship at junior middleweight a decade ago and all but four of his subsequent 22 bouts have been for world titles.
His two-fight series against the dangerous Gennadiy Golovkin at middleweight – for a win and a draw – helped his profile grow further.
Since splitting with promoter Golden Boy Promotions last year Alvarez has kept up a hectic schedule in his bid to collect all the belts at super middleweight.
Last December he outpointed Callum Smith to win the WBA and vacant WBC titles before making a mandatory title defence against Avni Yildirim in February, stopping him in three.
In his last outing in May he stopped WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders in eight rounds after fracturing the previously undefeated Brit’s face.
The last remaining piece of the puzzle is the 29-year-old Plant from Nashville, Tennessee.
“Now I’ll reiterate that he wants the Plant fight,” Hearn confirmed. “It is the undisputed fight, but he also wants to face other champions.”
If the Bivol fight does go ahead it will be just Alvarez’s second fight at light heavyweight. In November 2019 he moved up in weight to knockout WBO 175-pound champion Sergey Kovalev in 11 rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada before dropping back down to super middleweight.
