{"id":967494,"date":"2026-11-12T05:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T05:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/967494\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T05:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T05:06:10","slug":"canelo-alvarez-targets-willy-hutchinson-for-march-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/967494\/","title":{"rendered":"Canelo Alvarez Targets Willy Hutchinson For March Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Willy Hutchinson barely had time to enjoy winning the WBC light heavyweight title before landing on Canelo Alvarez<\/a>\u2018s radar. According to Uncrowned, trainer Eddy Reynoso just named the Scottish fighter as a contender for Canelo\u2019s March return in Saudi Arabia. That\u2019s a massive leap for someone who only recently captured the vacant belt against Joshua Buatsi.<\/p>\n

Other names on the shortlist make more obvious sense on paper. Hamzah Sheeraz already carries huge weight in the British market and could easily meet Canelo at 168 pounds. A Terence Crawford<\/a> rematch would obviously be the biggest event, though the massive purse Turki Alalshikh would need to put up makes that a long shot. Meanwhile, IBF champion Osleys Iglesias offers plenty of danger with his punching power, just without the financial upside of a Crawford bout.<\/p>\n

Hutchinson gives Canelo a clear path to another light heavyweight title, though his performance against Buatsi proved he won\u2019t be an easy night\u2019s work. He constantly switched stances, forced Buatsi to reset his feet, and timed him cleanly on the way in. Canelo still possesses the power to make Hutchinson pay if he lingers in the pocket, provided he can cut off the ring consistently. Otherwise, Hutchinson has the movement to force Canelo into long, frustrating stretches of searching for a clean shot.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Matchroom is already lobbying the WBC to name Ben Whittaker as Hutchinson\u2019s first mandatory challenger following Whittaker\u2019s expected February bout against Lyndon Arthur, per Uncrowned. The sanctioning body hasn\u2019t ruled on that request yet, leaving Hutchinson plenty of room to let the Canelo negotiations play out. A March showdown in Saudi Arabia would deliver a career-best payday while introducing the new champion to a global audience.<\/p>\n

When Canelo wants a belt, sanctioning bodies rarely get in his way. Even if Matchroom pushes hard to make Whittaker the WBC mandatory challenger after his expected February bout against Lyndon Arthur, the WBC has a long history of granting special exceptions, creating franchise-style designations, or letting unification and multi-division mega-fights jump the line. If Eddy Reynoso and Turki Alalshikh decide they want Willy Hutchinson for March in Riyadh, Whittaker will be left waiting on the outside looking in.<\/p>\n

Canelo looked sharp reclaiming the WBC super middleweight belt against Christian Mbilli on October 31, but Mbilli\u2019s forward-marching pressure played right into Canelo\u2019s counterpunching wheelhouse. Hutchinson presents the exact opposite problem.<\/p>\n

Against Joshua Buatsi on November 7, Hutchinson fought tall at 6-foot-1, switched stances constantly, and forced Buatsi to reset his feet every time he tried to close the distance. At 36, Canelo doesn\u2019t have the quickest feet anymore, and moving back up to 175 pounds, where he previously struggled with Dmitry Bivol\u2019s size, jab, and lateral movement, only magnifies that issue.<\/p>\n

The one caveat is Hutchinson\u2019s gas tank. He built a wide early lead against Buatsi, but his output faded noticeably down the stretch, letting Buatsi rally in the 11th round. Canelo is far more clinical than Buatsi at cutting off the ring and punishing a tiring opponent to the body.<\/p>\n

If Hutchinson keeps his discipline and heavy movement for all 12 rounds, he has every tool to frustrate Canelo and pull off the upset, leaving Whittaker waiting even longer for his crack at the green belt. A rematch between Hutchinson and Canelo would be a given by then.<\/p>\n

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Boxing<\/a> \u2022 Ben Whittaker<\/a> \u2022 Canelo Alvarez Targets Willy Hutchinson for March Return<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Willy Hutchinson barely had time to enjoy winning the WBC light heavyweight title before landing on Canelo Alvarez\u2018s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":967495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-967494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/967495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}