In a real shocker, the World Boxing Council has approved Canelo Alvarez to challenge WBC cruiserweight champion Illunga Makabu for his title in early 2022.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed that the sanctioning body has approved Canelo’s request to move up to cruiserweight [200 lbs] to take on the 34-year-old Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs) for his title.

Canelo choosing to fight Makabu, who is viewed by some boxing fans as by far the weakest of the four champions at cruiserweight, is a move to make it easy for the Mexican star to capture a fifth division world title.

WBC board of governors have approved David Benavidez to fight for the World Boxing Council interim super middleweight title now that champion Canelo Alvarez won’t be free to defend his belt.

The WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman didn’t say who Benavidez will face for the interim 168-lb title. Still, it’s likely to be one of these top ten counters in their sanctioning bodies’ rankings:

In a recent interview with boxing social, highly regarded trainer Shane McGuigan is picking Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) to defeat Artur Beterbiev (16-0, 16 KOs) if they fight next year.

McGuigan mentions how Callum Johnson (20-1, 14 KOs) was able to drop Beterbiev and how the Russian boxer is now 36 years old, which makes it hard for him to make weight.

He then goes on to say that he doesn’t believe Beterbiev could knock Canelo out, and if the Mexican superstar were to win, it would be via stoppage.

In a shocking ending, the past his best 35-year-old former IBF super bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (43-10-2, 30 KOs) destroyed the heavy favorite IBF featherweight champion Kid Galahad (28-2, 17 KOs) by a sixth round knockout on Saturday night at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England.

The victory for Martinez makes him a two-time world champion, and likely will result in a rematch. Although Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn didn’t say afterward, there’s likely a rematch clause in the contract because this was a voluntary defense for Galahad.

Former two-time WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) bludgeoned the tough replacement opponent Kyrone Davis (16-3-1, 6 KOs) in batting him until his corner pulled the plug in the seventh round on Saturday night in their clash on Showtime at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Davis, 27, showed a good chin in soaking up a lot of punishment from the hard-hitting 24-year-old Benavidez. Earlier in the fight, Davis was using the pull back to avoid getting hit, but he gave up on that and began struggling with Benavidez from the fourth.

This writer met “Iron” Mike Tyson where he lived in Catskill thanks to Cus D’Amato. Tyson was 15, and I never heard of him as we watched films his manager-to-be Jim Jacobs supplied from his “Greatest Fight Films of the Century!” Tyson loved looking at Jack Dempsey, no robe, no socks, and a furious style!

Tyson won his first 37 fights. Cus D’Amato and Jim Jacobs had passed on while Kevin Rooney was dismissed probably by Don King, Tyson’s promoter. Numerous trainers would follow like Aaron Snowell, Richie Giachetti, Jay Bright, Tommy Brooks, Ronnie Shields, Freddie Roach, and Jeff Fenech.

John Fury recommends that Dillian Whyte start saying “nice things” about his son Tyson Fury if he wants a chance to fight for his WBC heavyweight title.

John says Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) needs to start praising Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) if he wants to share the ring with the unbeaten champion. However, Fury will be FORCED to defend against Whyte, 33, soon if he wants to hold onto his WBC strap.

The only way Fury can swerve the dangerous Whyte fight is for him to vacate his WBC strap or ask them to make him their Franchise champion.

David Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs) believes he will be the one to dethrone undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez when he faces him.

The former two-time WBC 168-lb champion Benavidez feels that he’s one of the frontrunners to face Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) on Cinco de Mayo next May in 2022.

Canelo has run out of opponents after accomplishing his goal of becoming the undisputed champion at super middleweight, and he’s now got to fight the guys that the boxing public has been pushing for.

Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and Juan ‘El Gallo’ Estrada have their trilogy fight in the works for January 22nd in California.

According to La Prensa, the two will be battling on January 22nd. This should be an excellent fight like their previous two, but hopefully, the judging improves over the last one between them.

Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs) won a questionable 12 round split decision over Chocolatito earlier this year on March 13 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

Promoter Eddie Hearn questions whether Mikey Garcia will ever fight again after his shocking defeat at the hands of Sandor Martin last month in their main event clash on DAZN on October 16th at the Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California.

This was supposed to be a statement fight for the 33-year-old ring-rusty Mikey to prepare him for a mega-clash against Regis Prograis, but instead, he was schooled by Sandor for ten rounds.

Sandor is a former EBU light welterweight champion, and he’s not considered an elite-level fighter at 140.

Undefeated WBO welterweight champion Terence "Bud" Crawford and former two-time world champion "Showtime" Shawn Porter will meet the media for a virtual press conference ahead of their long-awaited super fight Saturday, November 20 at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Ryan Garcia put the lightweight division on notice last Saturday night by warning them that becoming for everybody to put them to sleep.

The undefeated former interim WBC lightweight champion Ryan, 23, has taken criticism from Canelo Alvarez and many boxing fans for not staying active with his career and lacking the dedication needed to be successful.

It’s going to be tough for Ryan to suddenly start showing the dedication needed for him to improve enough to beat one of the top lightweights.