Canelo Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev are finalizing a deal for a Nov. 2 bout with the latter fighter’s WBO light heavyweight title on the line, according to Mike Coppinger of The Athletic.
If the agreement is completed, DAZN will stream the bout, which will occur in Las Vegas. Per Coppinger, the current venue is unknown, but it won’t be in T-Mobile Arena with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights playing at home that evening.
Alvarez, who is ranked as BoxRec’s top pound-for-pound fighter in the world, holds the WBA (super), WBC, The Ring and lineal middleweight titles. He’ll have to jump two weight classes for this fight.
The 29-year-old holds a 52-1-2 professional record, with his only loss occurring against undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013.
Alvarez’s last victory came against Daniel Jacobs via unanimous decision in a middleweight title fight on May 4.
The 36-year-old Kovalev sports a 34-3-1 record and most recently knocked out Anthony Yarde to retain his WBO and EBP light heavyweight titles on August 24.
A few experts provided their early takes on the fight, including boxing writer Adam Abramowitz and light heavyweight fighter Andre Ward (who beat Kovalev twice).
adam abramowitz @snboxing
I don’t think Kovalev is an easy fight for Canelo whatsoever.
“I don’t have a definite answer, but I can see Canelo stopping him, man,” Ward told Keith Idec of Boxing Scene.
“But the only question is how is he gonna get through the reach consistently enough? And then, if he goes up to [175], how much weight is he gonna put on? Is he gonna try to bulk [up]? Is that gonna slow him down? Is he gonna be a target now? I’ve got more questions than answers right now, so I don’t know. … I can see him stopping Kovalev. If he can get inside and stay inside, it’s gonna be a problem.”
Kovalev is BoxRec’s No. 11 pound-for-pound fighter.
— BLEACHER REPORT