Who will Canelo Alvarez fight next?

The stage has been chosen for super middleweight boxing champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez who is set to challenge WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol on May 7.

The bout will be held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, putting an end to speculation that it would take place in Dubai.

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Las Vegas loves Alvarez

The Las Vegas venue works in Alvarez’s favor, as he has managed to attract supporters to cheer for him whenever he fights there. It will be his sixth appearance at the arena, and the second consecutive one in Las Vegas. He was proclaimed the first-ever undisputed middleweight boxing champion after knocking out Caleb Plant at MGM Grand Garden Arena in November.

It will be only the second time in Bivol's career that he will fight in Las Vegas.

Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) had to move back up to light heavyweight to challenge the unbeaten Bivol who has a record of 19-0, 11 KOs.

No title at stake?

However, the event might end up being a non-title fight if the WBA refuses to sanction it on the basis of Bivol being a Russian citizen. He was born in Kyrgyzstan but has been living in Russia since he was 11 years old.

The WBA, IBF, WBC, and WBO have stated that they will closely watch the approval of championship matches where Russians are involved, in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

If the fight is not sanctioned by the WBA, then there would have been little point in Alvarez fighting once again in the light heavyweight division. He had chosen to fight Bivol over WBC middleweight champ Jermall Charlo.

The May 7 fight will be available on DAZN pay-per-view, the company’s first event that will be available exclusively on that platform.