One of the biggest storylines heading to the annual WBC convention is the status of new middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and if the WBC will order Alvarez to fight interim champion Jermall Charlo.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman spoke to ESPN Deportes at the start of the convention and said as of now, Alvarez will be able to make a voluntary title defense before the WBC would address a potential fight between the two middleweight champions.
"We have to review the classifications and mandatory fights on all 17 division and there are some that are very complicated, one of them being the future of Canelo as a middleweight champion. Jermall Charlo is the interim champion, and has the right to fight to become the official champion, but we understand that [Canelo] may have a defense en December and we will be addressing this particular topic," Sulaiman said.
Alvarez won the WBC title, as well as the WBA "super" title, when he defeated Gennady Golovkin by majority decision on September 15. Golden Boy Promotions reserved a date in December at Madison Square Garden for Alvarez's first title defense but no fight has yet to be announced. Alvarez could be facing David Lemieux, who won a final eliminator for Alvarez's WBA title on that same card Alvarez was victorious over Golovkin, on that December date.
When Charlo moved up in weight last year to middleweight, he immediately put himself into the WBC title picture after winning a title eliminator over Jorge Sebastian Heiland. After not getting a chance to fight for the WBC title, the governing body booked Charlo to face Hugo Centeno Jr. for the interim title earlier this year. Charlo knocked out Centeno in the second round to win the interim WBC champion.
