Canelo Alvarez will likely have to drop WBC or WBA title soon

Rumors have been floating that Canelo Alvarez has decided to vacate the WBC junior middleweight title in favor of keeping the WBA belt he won from Austin Trout on April 20 in San Antonio, but manager Eddy Reynoso says that's not the case.

Alvarez, 22, will have to make a decision soon, though, as the WBC does not allow its titleholders to carry belts from rival sanctioning bodies. And Reynoso makes it sound like the decision has already been made:

"Canelo has not waived [his WBC title]. Why would we do that? The World Boxing Council has supported Saul since he won the junior middleweight championship, the silver and other regional titles of this organization. Saul's entire career has been connected to the WBC title. What happens next [regarding the titles], we will determine after evaluating the situation."

Alvarez is headed to Panama to pick up his WBA belt, so avoiding saying outright, "Well, obviously, we're going to give up the WBA belt" is a nice way of being political with the decision. I mean, he probably doesn't want to walk into a room, pick up his belt, and have everyone know for a fact he's just going to vacate it sooner than later.

But that's probably what's going to happen. The WBC title has been the central focus of Canelo's career, as Reynoso says, and as is common knowledge, the WBC supports Mexican fighters greatly. Alvarez dropping the WBC belt to keep the WBA title would be a major upset.

Anyway, the WBA will have a free title to put up between, say, Austin Trout and Miguel Cotto, if they wanted to have a rematch, soon enough. Or at least that's my guess.