The Mr. Verzace Line That Has Got The 168 Pound Division Talking
Right then — Canelo Alvarez went on Mr. Verzace's podcast at the back end of yesterday and dropped a line that has reframed the entire super middleweight queue. Asked which of the two outstanding belt holders he wants next after the Mbilli fight on September 12, the Mexican didn't pick. He told the room Hamzah Sheeraz and Osleys Iglesias to fight each other first — and the winner gets the Canelo Alvarez payday.
His exact line — "I think they need to fight each other and then I fight the winner. That's the most smart thing they can do. We all need to earn what we deserve and they need to earn it." Brutal in its honesty. The pound-for-pound man basically told the WBO champion and the IBF champion he is not in the mood to do them any favours.
Why Canelo Is Pushing This One Out
Make no mistake — this is a stalling job, dressed up as fairness. Canelo has the September 12 Riyadh date locked in with Christian Mbilli and that is a proper fight. If he wins that, he wants the easiest possible reset on the road to whatever sells the most tickets in 2027 — probably David Benavidez at 175, possibly the long-rumoured Bivol rematch if Saul does decide to climb the scales. Letting Sheeraz and Iglesias batter each other for a year means he can either pick the winner cheap, or kick the can entirely.
Sheeraz Is The Cleaner Fight For Boxing
Let's not beat around the bush. Hamzah Sheeraz stopped Alem Begic in two at the Pyramids on May 23 to win the vacant WBO belt, and he came out the ring on the mic calling Canelo a GOAT and asking for the fight by name. He is undefeated, he is twenty six, he is the only British super middleweight world champion sitting in the room with the necessary numbers behind him. That is the fight you make.
Iglesias, the IBF holder, has been the quiet man for nine months. Good fighter, technically clean, but his Saturday nights have not moved the needle in the way Sheeraz's Egypt knockout did. If you are Canelo and your stated plan is to keep growing the brand, you box Sheeraz first. He is the easier sell to the casual British audience that turned the Wembley ticket exchanges upside down for the Joshua fight conversation.
The Cynical Read
So why is Saul ducking out of picking? Because Sheeraz at six foot three with a properly long jab and an active engine is a worse stylistic puzzle than Iglesias. Make no mistake — Canelo has watched the Begic tape. He saw what Sheeraz did inside two rounds. He has not forgotten the size disadvantage Crawford exposed last September either. Asking Hamzah to go through Iglesias first is asking him to take damage, take rounds, maybe even lose. It is the oldest move in the book.
The Sheeraz Iglesias Fight Is A Cracking One Anyway
The funny thing is — if it happens, it is a brilliant fight on its own merits. WBO versus IBF, undefeated vs near-undefeated, unification implications, Riyadh or London ready and waiting. Turki Alalshikh has been the one greasing all of these wheels for two years. He gets that fight made. I think we see it before Christmas.
Prediction Watch
I make it Sheeraz over Iglesias inside the distance, late stoppage. Levels of activity, levels of size, levels of momentum. Then Canelo finally gets put in with a proper full size 168 pounder, probably March or May 2027. That is the fight the division has been waiting two years for. The road is finally being paved — whether Canelo wants to call it a road or a roadblock.