The World Around Canelo Alvarez (A Look at the Non-Canelo 168)

The cold, hard reality is that everyone worthy of fighting Mexican superstar, cash cow, Face of Boxing, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez– both from a competitive standpoint as well as a plain, ol’ “he just damn deserves it” angle– is now fighting at light heavyweight because he was not (ever) in Canelo’s super middleweight plans.

But there are still…people, fighters…occupying the spots right below Alvarez. There’s one 168 lb. title freed up after the IBF stripped him of their belt. And there are definitely good fights to be made that don’t involve all the drama and hoo-ha in a Canelo B-side sweepstakes run.

So, on this lazy Sunday, let’s take a look at what we have at super middleweight (not named Canelo).

Jaime Munguia

The Tijuana native hit the world stage as a 21-year-old in 2018, crushing the undersized WBO junior middleweight champ Sadam Ali, looking like a high school senior smacking around an eight-grader. Growing pains ensued, some developmental stagnation as well. Then the big kid started growing up. His subtle signs of maturation led to a game and very respectable losing effort against Alvarez this past May. Now 27, Munguia further impressed this past Friday when he wore down, beat down, and stopped a solid, underrated Erik Bazinyan in ten rounds.

Christian Mbilli

The Cameroonian (is that a word) fighting out of Montreal is all lightning bolts and thunder. His free-swinging all-action style is a boxing highlight reel-creating YouTube content creator’s wet dream. The reality behind the Mbilli story, however, is that he’s been fattened up with a significant amount of soft touches. In his one “real” test, he showed some vulnerability and technical hiccups against tough perpetual also-ran Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a bout where both fighters claimed injury. A shot at Canelo could very well be coming his way, and it would probably be entertaining while it lasted, but there’s no way he does anything but collect a paycheck against the future first ballot Hall of Famer.

Caleb Plant

The former IBF 168 lb. champ gained a lot of boxing street cred in doing alright in defeat against Canelo and in taking a tough beating versus David Benavidez. He’s also gained a good degree of added popularity via his highly visible beefs with the likes of Jermall Charlo, Ryan Garcia, and Edgar Berlanga and default status as a voice of reason on social media. All of that has kept him in the public eye and, therefore, a legitimate main stage player in the world around Canelo (and maybe even a candidate for a second shot at Canelo sweepstakes money). His most recent win over Trevor McCumby, on the Canelo-Berlanga undercard, was equal parts compelling and distressing, since there were some actual life-and-death moments against a modest low-second tier presence like McCumby. But Plant would close the show right and he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. If his legs are still underneath him, he’s a good, bankable challenge for anyone at 168.

Edgar Berlanga

The New Yorker carrying the Puerto Rican banner in the trumped up September 14 Mexico vs. Puerto Rico showdown with Canelo inspired such low expectations coming into the bout that anything beyond falling flat on his face, knocking himself out while entering the ring would’ve been considered a success. The 27-year-old Berlanga got massive amounts of credit for surviving in that Canelo fight, averaging just four more punches thrown per round than Jermell Charlo, whose lack of effort against Alvarez last September was widely criticized. Whatever the case, Berlanga has added name value now and will parlay that into some big and/or biggish fights in the immediate future.

The Rest

There are lots of “The Rests” in this division. The biggest target will be the winner of the Vladimir Shishkin-William Scull IBF title bout. Chris Eubank Jr. may walk to the front of the Canelo line and grab his own bag of cash for a predictable loss. Osleys Iglesias, Diego Pacheco, and Lester Martinez are all talented, but unproven. Bektemir Melikuziev, Zach Parker, Erik Bazinyan, and Steven Nelson are around. And, don’t throw things at the screen, but Demetrius Andrade is not officially retired.

It’s not a golden age for super middleweights by any stretch of the imagination, but things are alright.