Canelo Alvarez agrees to fight Jermall Charlo for super middleweight crown

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will return to the ring in September to defend his undisputed super middleweight championship against Jermall Charlo, according to ESPN's Mike Coppinger.

Alvarez, long considered the face of boxing and one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, inked a three-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions, including the Sept. 16 fight against Charlo. In 2024, he'll have his typical fight on the weekend closest to Cinco De Mayo and another bout in September.

Canelo has essentially been a promotional free agent ever since breaking from his then-record breaking deal with streaming outfit DAZN. In 2018, he signed a five-year contract for $385 million and was scheduled to have 11 fights in the span, all livestreamed on a platform that had been trying to make waves in North America after HBO ceased to broadcast boxing matches.

Alvarez had developed a reputation of taking on the biggest possible challenges. His loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013 was considered a schooling of a young undefeated prodigy. He won two of three fights in his trilogy with Gennady "GGG" Golovkin (the second fight being a hotly contested draw). He also moved to light heavyweight to grab a belt from Sergey Kovalev but was battered by a superior natural talent in the weight class, Dmitry Bivol.

A fight with Charlo, one that had been considered in the past, may not be the superfight in the same realm of Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., but it's certain to be competitive between two elite prizefighters.

Charlo hasn't fought in two years, with his last fight being an unanimous decision win over Juan Macias Montiel in defense of his WBC middleweight belt. The WBC has not stripped him of the title, citing mental health as a reason for the inactivity. That long period away from the ring could be a concern, especially against someone who has been as active as Alvarez, as former welterweight champion and current boxing analyst Shawn Porter told FightHype back on June 17.

Jermall's twin brother, Jermell, is the undisputed light middleweight champion and has been recovering from training injuries in hopes of finally getting in the ring with top contender Tim Tszyu.