WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman: Everyone Wants To Fight Canelo Alvarez Because The Pay Is High

Canelo Alvarez (Instagram @canelo)

JAKARTA - Canelo Alvarez will face Dmitry Bivol in his next title fight on May 7. However, the president of the WBC, Mauricio Sulaiman, said that everyone wanted to fight the Mexican because the pay was high.

There has been a lot of speculation about who Canelo will fight in 2022, and Sulaiman insists that there are several challenges for the boxer who is considered by many to be the best cross-divisional fighter in the world today.

"Canelo is in a unique position. You have to be calm, obviously everyone wants to fight Canelo, this is a fight that finishes your life (financially)," explained Sulaiman to TUDN quoted from Marca, Thursday, April 7.

"Canelo is out of the norm at the moment, that's why the franchise concept was created; he's like Floyd (Mayweather), (Julio Cesar) Chavez, and Sugar Ray Leonard, all great people who are completely out of normality.

"Canelo has an agenda for this year, there are many possibilities. The problem is not to despair, there is enough Canelo to go around for everyone, and for a long time."

Previously, Canelo said he was excited to face Bivol, who he believed to be a great fighter and a champion.

"(Bivol is) a champion, he's a great champion, and I like the idea of going back to 175, against the second-best fighter in the division," Alvarez told BoxingScene.com.

"He's a good fighter, he's got something to offer, he's bigger than me.

"I think he's a better fighter than these guys (Gennady Golovkin and Ryota Murata)."

Despite the fact that some boxing figures such as Mike Tyson strongly criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the match between the Tsarist Lands boxers, Bivol and Canelo were ready to take place.

Sulaimán explains that the fight will take place, as it is an opportunity to show the world that boxing is above politics.

"It would be a shame to try to cross out a fight between "Canelo" and Bivol; so I'm glad this fight happened and in the ring, both opponents can show that boxing is far above politics," said Solomon.