The Hook (1)

Following Canelo’s defeat against Terence Crawford in September last year many people assumed that marked the end of an illustrious hard fought career. However, after undergoing elbow surgery and taking time out of the sport, Turki Al Sheikh has announced the Mexican’s return to the sport.

Alvarez is expected to return to the ring on September 12th in Saudi Arabia. While an opponent has not yet been announced, it has been revealed that Canelo will return under this own promotional banner, Canelo Promotions. Canelo is halfway through a four fight deal with Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh season. However, Riyadh season is not a licensed boxing promoter which gives Canelo the green light to work with different promotional companies. Canelo has opted to work with different promotional companies throughout his career as opposed to working with just one. This has given him the opportunity to maximise his earnings and work with the company that will pay him the most money.

Fighters launching their own promotional companies is nothing out of the ordinary. In fact Canelo joins a list of illustrious names that have opted to go it alone. In the early part of his career, Mayweather partnered with Bob Arum and Top Rank. However, he eventually spent $750,000 to buy himself out of his contract and started Mayweather Promotions in 2007. This gave him autonomy over this career allowing him to manage endorsements and keep the lions share of revenue from his fights.

While Canelo could make the jump to light heavyweight, Crawford’s retirement could entice Canelo to return to the Super-middleweight scene. He will be hoping to remain at the heart of any unification talk.

Callum Walsh will face Carlos Ocampo on Zuffa Boxing’s first Show on Paramount. That bout is scheduled to take place on the 23rd January at the META APEX arena in Las Vegas. Zuffa boxing will hope that this is the first of monthly shows that will be broadcasted live on Paramount plus. With the financial backing of Riyadh Season, Zuffa will be looking to announce the signing of more fighters in the coming months, as they look to compete with the likes of Matchroom Boxing and Queensberry Promotions.

Zuffa have already announced the signing of Charles Martin, who won the vacant IBF title in 2016. He had one of the shortest title reigns in heavyweight history when he lost to Anthony Joshua just 85 days after winning that belt. Martin is expected to headline against Efe Ajagba on Feb 14 with an official announcement set to follow.

Dalton Smith beat Subriel Matias in Brooklyn New York to become the WBC super-lightweight champion. The victory is all the more impressive considering Matias returned an adverse finding for the drug Ostarine in the buildup to the fight. The New York State Athletic Commission allowed the fight to proceed as the amount in Matias’ system was less than the amount that they deemed dangerous.

Matias’ promoters then won the purse bid, ahead of Matchroom which meant the fight could not be broadcasted live on DAZN. It was only available on PPV meaning British fight fans had to pay £41.95 to watch the action live. Thus, the fight did not get the publicity it deserved. Despite this Smith delivered a career best performance beating Matias at his own game. Instead of boxing on the outside like he did in the first round he proceeded to go toe to toe with the Puerto Rican, confident in his ability to withstand Matias’ power. This tactic paid off in the fifth when Smith delivered a devastating one to two which sent Matias crashing to the canvas and ultimately forced the ref to wave off the action.

Smith has no doubt become one of the most feared men in the division, rising to no.1 in the Ring Magazine’s latest rankings. While he will be looking in earnest at the showdown between Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson later this month he will also be content in basking in the adulation that is coming his way.

With 2026 only just beginning, this is shaping up to be a pivotal year in the rise of Sheffield’s Dalton Smith.

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