Canelo Alvarez-Ryoto Murata negotiations collapse

One man’s loss is another man’s gain.

There’s good news in the air this morning for Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders, as both fighters seem to be back in the running to land a May fight with Canelo Alvarez. Canelo has recently been linked to a fight against Ryoto Murata in Japan, news that had Smith reeling as he sought to secure the major payday for himself, but it appears the talks between Canelo and Murata have fallen through.

ESPN reports that the negotiations to stage the Canelo-Murata fight in Japan ‘cratered’ according to one source, though the exact reason why the talks fell apart hasn’t been revealed. It’s probably safe to assume it has something to do with money, though, while another source reports that a Canelo-Murata fight could be revisited for later this year.

That would seemingly put both Smith and Saunders back in the hunt for an expected May fight with Canelo in Las Vegas, but who knows, maybe we’ll see another curveball. It’s all but assured that Canelo will be making his next appearance at 168lbs, and a fight against either one of those opponents would give Canelo the chance to earn a major world title in the division after only wining a secondary belt against Rocky Fielding at the end of 2018.