Canelo Alvarez has been vocal in his desire to return to the super-middleweight throne, with newly-crowned WBC champion Christian Mbilli the apparent target. However, the Frenchman is currently awaiting a decision from the WBC that will determine his next move.
Alvarez lost his undisputed super-middleweight title to Terence Crawford back in September and when ‘Bud’ retired from the sport, the belts became fragmented, with WBC Interim champion Mbilli being one beneficiary as he was elevated to full world champion.
The undefeated 30-year-old is yet to fight since, with his most recent outing coming on that Canelo-Crawford undercard in a draw with Guatemala’s Lester Martinez, where his perfect record came to an end.
Meanwhile, Martinez, a sparring partner of Crawford’s, has returned to action, defeating Immanuwel Aleem to become the new WBC Interim super-middleweight champion and move closer to a rematch with Mbilli for the primary WBC world title.
In an exclusive interview with Boxing News, Mbilli’s trainer Marc Ramsay revealed that the team are waiting on a verdict from the WBC as to whether Mbilli will be required to defend the belt, potentially against Martinez, ahead of hopes to land the Canelo clash later this year.
“Right now, he is on vacation with his family, but he is going to come back soon and train again. We are waiting on the WBC to see exactly what they want us to do, whether we have to face the interim champion or not, or if we have a proposal to fight Canelo.
“It is possible [that they mandate us to fight Lester Martinez] or maybe another contender, or that we get an offer from outside like Canelo. If they tell us to fight Martinez, we will follow [orders], we are not trying to escape from anybody.”
Canelo will return in September, meaning both he and Mbilli could fight one another off the back of a one-year spell of inactivity, if the WBC decide not to order the Martinez rematch.