Matchroom Boxing Confirms Canelo-Callum Smith December 19th

Breaking news Tuesday night involving four division World Champ Canelo Alvarez, who will officially return to the ring before the end of 2020 in a battle with England’s Callum Smith on December 19th.

Matchroom Boxing and promoter Eddie Hearn officially announced the bout and the date, which will apparently take place in Texas and with some fans present,

The battle for 168lb supremacy!!! @Canelo v @CallumSmith23 Dec 19 in USA live on @DAZNBoxing ? @CANELOTEAM ?? ?? pic.twitter.com/RCLO2CVU9t

— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) November 17, 2020

That bout has been long rumored for the last few months and now that Alvarez dis-entangled himself from his former promoter Oscar De La Hoya/Golden Boy Promotions, Hearn was able to swoop in and make the fight happen.

De La Hoya confirmed earlier this month that Alvarez was free to walk away from their deal after he sued them in September in California Federal Court for $280 million.

“The lawsuit was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, and we wish Canelo the best going forward. In strong partnership with DAZN, we will continue showcasing our wide array of talent, including rising superstars like Ryan Garcia, Jaime Mungia and Vergil Ortiz, Jr…” De La Hoya announced

Further, Alvarez attorney, Greg Smith, representing Canelo in his $280 million lawsuit against Golden Boy and DAZN, confirmed also that they would file paperwork with the California Federal Court to drop the lawsuit.

Smith is the unbeaten WBA Super Middleweight Champ and won the World Boxing Super Series tournament at 168 lb.

Alvarez has not been in the ring since last November, when he captured the WBO Light Heavyweight title by 11th round TKO over Sergey Kovalev. He quickly vacated that title and made clear that he would prefer to fight at Super Middleweight.

Alvarez is previously a World Champ at Jr. Middleweight, Middleweight and Super Middleweight, as well.

It had been reported that Alvarez might do a deal with Premier Boxing Champions and fight unbeaten IBF 168 lb. World Champ, Caleb Plant on that date. However, much like previous fights for Canelo in his squabbles with De La Hoya and DAZN, it didn’t finalize.

It is believed that Hearn swung a deal right back with DAZN to televise this fight not only in the U.S. but also in the U.K., instead of Hearn’s traditional U.K. television partner, Sky Sports. And, that’s likely at a pricey cost for the streaming service to help pay Canelo’s significant money request.

DAZN repeatedly tried to get Alvarez to fight this year (due to the Covid 19 pandemic and not being able to have fans) for much less than the $35 million that they had guaranteed him in their multi-year deal.

DAZN stands to gain 10’s of thousands of subscribers for December with the edition of the Canelo fight.

More than likely Hearn and Matchroom will use the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX, which can have at least 10,000 socially distanced for the bout. Gervonta Davis just headlined a PBC pay per view from that site on Halloween night, when he knocked out Leo Santa Cruz in the sixth round.