Canelo Alvarez Trolled Promoter Eddie Hearn By Asking ‘Who’s Next?’ After Destroying Callum Smith

Canelo Alvarez hadn’t fought in over a year prior to Saturday night, as the former pound-for-pound king dealt with promoter issues, ultimately splitting with longtime promoter Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy to go out on his own.

Alvarez has long promised to fight the biggest and best in the sport, taking on challengers at a variety of weight classes, and after knocking out former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, he turned his attention to the super middleweight champion Callum Smith for his bout on Saturday night in San Antonio. Canelo picked apart the much taller Smith, feeling his way around in the opening rounds before closing the distance and stalking Smith back into the ropes over and over, unloading on the champ with flurries, most notably some vicious uppercuts that caught Smith clean.

By the end of the night, Canelo emerged with an easy decision victory, and while Smith never touched the canvas, his face told the story of just getting absolutely dominated by Alvarez. After the fight, Alvarez strolled by Eddie Hearn after dispatching of a third Matchroom fighter in his career and trolled Britain’s biggest promoter by asking “who’s next” referencing the trail of destruction he’d left in Hearn’s stable of fighters.

What’s fascinating about Alvarez’s future is that without a tie to a network or promoter (pending a lawsuit with Golden Boy and DAZN to get out of his DAZN deal), he can truly go around and negotiate for fights with anyone. Errol Spence Jr., the welterweight champ and a PBC fighter, has shown interest in a middleweight fight with Alvarez that would be the biggest fight of the year if they could get that done. There’s also the potential for a trilogy fight with GGG, who is now with Hearn, and plenty of other intriguing possibilities for boxing’s top draw. What other promoters and managers will have to determine is whether a fight with Canelo is worth the money, because of the very real chance that he puts your top fighter through the ringer, making them look rather silly for 12 rounds or less.