Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will defend his super-middleweight world titles against Jermell Charlo on September 30 in Las Vegas.
Canelo is the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO champion and it had been thought the Mexican would face Jermell’s twin brother Jermall next.
However, it is undisputed super-welterweight champion Jermell Charlo who will be moving up two weight divisions to face 32-year-old Canelo.
“Undisputed vs undisputed,” Canelo declared on Twitter, in an announcement that surprised the boxing world.
Canelo last fought in May, when he sealed a unanimous decision win over John Ryder to retain his world titles.
More than 50,000 fans watched as Canelo fought in Mexico for the first time since 2011, and afterwards there had been talk of a rematch against Dmitry Bivol, who defeated him on points in their WBA light-heavyweight title fight last May.
But as recently as Friday afternoon, Canelo was being touted to face Jermall Charlo in September, with Jermall the current WBC middleweight champion.
Then came the announcement: Canelo versus Jermell Charlo, the first meeting of undisputed champions in the four-belt era.
Charlo (35-1-1) retained his four super-welterweight belts when defeating Brian Carlos Castano by knockout in May 2022.
The pair had drawn their previous bout in a split decision in July the previous year.
Charlo’s only defeat to date was to Tony Harrison in December 2018, a loss he avenged 12 months later.