Carl Frampton previews potential Hamzah Sheeraz vs Canelo fight
Britain’s Hamzah Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) made a huge statement in his last fight when he stepped up to super-middleweight to score a destructive fifth-round stoppage victory against Puerto Rican Edgar Berlanga in New York last July, a shared opponent that Canelo went the full 12-rounds with.
The contest was a WBC eliminator, meaning Sheeraz is first in line to contest the now-vacant WBC world super-middleweight title, formerly held by Terence Crawford, who recently retired from boxing.
Christian Mbilli is the WBC Interim titleholder at 168lbs and Canelo is ranked #1, with Sheeraz at #2.
It was just announced that Saul Alvarez will be back in the ring on September 12 in an event that will be themed as Mexico vs The Rest of the World. It’s unclear who his opponent is going to be.
Former two-weight world champion-turned-pundit, Carl Frampton, has previewed a potential matchup between the brilliant Brit and the Mexican megastar, picking out his winner with no hesitation, “I would have Hamzah Sheeraz as the favourite against Canelo, at this stage.
“Hamzah is a big, tall, rangy, lanky guy, and he’s very good at fighting in the pocket. But sometimes he does that when he doesn’t need to — if he keeps things long, these shorter guys don’t need to get near him.
“If he did fight Canelo, I think Canelo would have opportunities because Hamzah does like to fight in the pocket at times. But overall, I would still have Hamzah as a big favourite in that fight.
“What else is Canelo doing? I’m not so sure. He’s had an incredible résumé and an unbelievable career — he’s fought everybody. If he doesn’t fight someone like Hamzah, maybe it’s another super middleweight champion, but are those fights really appealing? I don’t know.
“I think he wants to go out on a big win. His career wouldn’t be defined by the Terence Crawford defeat, but he doesn’t want to retire on a loss. I’d love to see Canelo retire, but I just don’t see it happening. And I can see some of the young guys coming through right now beating him.”
