Anthony Dirrell also being considered as September Canelo opponent

Mike Coppinger reported yesterday that Canelo Alvarez has begun negotiations to face Sergiy Derevyanchenko on September 14th, adding that “other opponents are being considered.” Today, he and another source confirmed that one of those opponents is former WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell.

If Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KO) was an eyebrow-raiser, Dirrell (33-2-1, 24 KO) is a full People’s Eyebrow. “The Dog,” who’d been talking retirement since before his February decision over Avni Yildirim, is coming off a fairly brutal TKO loss to David Benavidez and hasn’t turned in an eye-catching performance since stopping Norbert Nemesapati in 2017. The 35-year-old’s résumé is anchored by wins over Sakio Bika (2014) and Caleb Truax (2016).

All he has going for him as an opponent is that, unlike Derevyanchenko, he’s a natural super middleweight. He’d still be Alvarez’s (53-1-2. 36 KO) least appealing opponent since the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fiasco in 2017. It’s understandable that Golden Boy and co. would save the marquee matchups for after they’re cleared to fill stadiums again, but that doesn’t make this mismatch any more palatable.

We can, however, take solace in the fact that Dirrell is merely one of many. Recall how many candidates cropped up for the scuttled May card before Billy Joe Saunders got the call.