{"id":489718,"date":"2026-03-22T19:04:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T19:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/489718\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T19:04:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T19:04:06","slug":"new-interim-world-champion-says-he-definitely-beats-canelo-im-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/489718\/","title":{"rendered":"New interim world champion says he &#8216;definitely&#8217; beats Canelo: &#8220;I&#8217;m ready&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/canelo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canelo Alvarez<\/a> is set to secure a world title shot later this year, but may soon be ordered to face an unbeaten contender who believes he has the Mexican\u2019s number.<\/p>\n<p>Canelo has not fought since last September, when he lost his undisputed crown via a unanimous decision defeat to Terence Crawford.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, however, boxing powerbroker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.co.uk\/boxing\/story\/_\/id\/47623740\/canelo-alvarez-return-ring-big-fight-sept-12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Turki Alalshikh has promised a world title fight for the Mexican superstar<\/a> in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 12.<\/p>\n<p>While an opponent is yet to be confirmed, it has been widely suspected that WBC super-middleweight champion Christian Mbilli is likely to emerge as an appropriate dance partner.<\/p>\n<p>The Frenchman was elevated from \u2018interim\u2019 to full world champion following his <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/christian-mbilli-retains-wbc-interim-title-with-draw-against-lester-martinez\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">enthralling 10-round draw with Lester Martinez<\/a>, which featured on the undercard of Canelo-Crawford.<\/p>\n<p>But while Mbilli could certainly face Canelo in his next outing, the winner of their potential fight will likely be ordered to defend his WBC title against Martinez.<\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old claimed Mbilli\u2019s old \u2018interim\u2019 belt on Saturday, producing a measured display to unanimously outpoint Immanuwel Aleem.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking through a translator <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/status\/2035583212156576255\" rel=\"nofollow\">during his post-fight press conference<\/a>, Martinez insisted he has the beating of Canelo, a five-division world champion but who ultimately looks past his best.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot only do I believe that I can compete; I believe I can actually win. And we have to win.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith my team behind me, I feel like I\u2019m ready to not just compete with Canelo Alvarez \u2013 not just be present \u2013 but definitely win the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martinez\u2019s trainer, Brian \u2018BoMac\u2019 McIntyre, was in Crawford\u2019s corner when he became a three-division undisputed champion against Canelo, who may wish to get one over the \u2018BoMac\u2019 camp and eventually face the Guatemalan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canelo Alvarez is set to secure a world title shot later this year, but may soon be ordered&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-489718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}