Hamzah Sheeraz is openly campaigning for an unearned lottery ticket against Canelo Alvarez, and boxing fans are expected to pretend this makes sense.

Fans online already assume Turki Alalshikh will force this matchup. That speaks volumes about the current matchmaking environment. People expect what they think the money wants instead of the fights worth watching. Canelo has genuine options available. A rematch with Terence Crawford makes sense, while Jaron Ennis, Dmitry Bivol, Lester Martinez, or Osleys Iglesias would each offer far more entertainment.

Sheeraz, in contrast, is the ideal safe business fight. He gives the Riyadh Season brass an easy UK marketing angle, brings a recognizable name to British television, and holds zero real threat of upsetting the apple cart. As Simon Zachenhuber showed, Sheeraz is upright, gets uncomfortable when pressed, lacks defensive subtlety, and struggles to impose his height when someone refuses to fold early.

Against Canelo, Sheeraz would stand right in range, get timed coming in, and walk straight into counters without the ringcraft to survive it. Picking him is about protecting the brand and cashing a check, not testing greatness.

“Why not, bro? Why not test myself against the best,” said Sheeraz to DAZN Boxing when asked yesterday why he wants to fight Canelo. “I’m in this game to be the best, and put myself in there with someone with the likes of Canelo. It’s stuff you can dream of. Every day, I wake up, training harder and harder. It’s starting to become more of a reality. So, now it’s like, let me get in there and let me do my thing.”

Sheeraz did himself no favors during his recent majority decision win against Simon Zachenhuber. The German walked through his shots, pressed him constantly, and exposed his discomfort under fire. Nothing in that performance signaled that Sheeraz belongs in the ring with the face of boxing.

His brief title run did not validate him either. Picking up a vacant WBO belt by blowing out Alem Begic in two rounds proved very little. Begic was 39 with a paper record built on obscure opposition. Sheeraz then vacated rather than face Janibek Alimkhanuly, citing low money and an opponent returning from a failed test. He had every right to walk away, but walking away did not prove he is elite.

The refusal to fight Iglesias makes Sheeraz even harder to sell. Canelo openly suggested Hamzah face the dangerous Cuban to earn the shot. Sheeraz rejected the idea, pointing out that Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia never had to pass such an audition. Canelo might have double standards, but whining about Berlanga does not elevate Hamzah’s resume.

Testing yourself against the best is what you do after you run through actual contenders, not after edging Simon Zachenhuber on a majority decision or blasting out Alem Begic.

If Sheeraz genuinely wanted to “test himself against the best” to prepare for Canelo, Osleys Iglesias was standing right there. Canelo offered him the exact blueprint: beat the Cuban southpaw, prove you belong at the elite tier, and bring real credibility to the table.

Saying “It’s stuff you can dream of” gives the game away. It is a dream because it represents the ultimate lottery ticket: a massive purse, global visibility, and zero downside if he loses to an all-time great. Every fringe contender wakes up training hard with that exact dream.

Wanting the biggest purse in the sport is understandable from a business perspective. Pretending that ambition alone makes you a worthy challenger is the part fans are tired of seeing. If everyone who “wakes up dreaming of Canelo” got the call, the sport would be nothing but exhibition paydays. Until Sheeraz takes on a legitimate threat who can punch back, talking about testing himself just sounds like someone angling for a retirement check.

My sources tell me chances are uncomfortably high, easily hovering around 65% to 75% that Canelo fights Hamzah next. Everything coming out of Riyadh points to Hamzah Sheeraz being the preferred target for that spot: Sheeraz sat ringside in Riyadh, gave pre-fight interviews to DAZN building up the matchup, and openly positioned himself as next in line.

That is standard operating procedure when organizers are preparing the public for an announcement. From the promotional side, Sheeraz checks the exact commercial boxes Turki Alalshikh looks for. He provides a British draw to anchor UK pay-per-view buys, brings a Middle Eastern connection based out of Dubai, and comes without the brutal negotiating headaches that accompany figures like Dmitry Bivol or Terence Crawford.

For Canelo, the risk calculus makes Sheeraz almost irresistible. After working through twelve rounds with Christian Mbilli, taking on an upright target who does not use angles or elite lateral footwork is a safe day at the office. Canelo avoids the nightmare styles of Osleys Iglesias or Jaron Ennis while pocketing another massive purse.

The only real hurdles that could derail it are: Crawford agreeing to unretire for the massive bag that a rematch would command. If Crawford says yes, every other fight gets pushed aside immediately. A sudden pivot to a mandatory unification, such as Osleys Iglesias holding the IBF belt or the winner of Janibek Alimkhanuly against Jacob Bank for the vacant WBO strap, if organizers decide they want all the belts consolidated again. Lester Martinez, who holds the WBC interim belt and was also sitting ringside, is being enforced as a mandatory obligation.

As such, unless Crawford signs on the dotted line or public ridicule forces a change in direction, all arrows point toward Sheeraz getting the nod. It is safe matchmaking dressed up as an international event.

Ryan Garcia says Floyd Mayweather needs to sign up for February sixth, but that timeline makes little sense when Mayweather is not even part of active negotiations. While Garcia issues public ultimatums to a retired legend, Mike Coppinger reports that actual business points toward a clash with Teofimo Lopez.

“We’ve seen Ryan Garcia say on Twitter that he wants to fight on February 6th, whether it’s against Floyd Mayweather or Teofimo Lopez. I was told that Mayweather wasn’t even in discussion for the next fight,” said Mike Coppinger to DAZN Boxing.

“Of course, Mayweather is almost 50 years old now. It’s kind of a pipe dream. It would be a massive event, especially if it was later in the year. First, they’re working on finalizing a fight between Ryan Garcia and Teofimo Lopez, a welterweight title unification. I think it’s one of the biggest fights in all of boxing. Teofimo just regained a title fight in Rolly Romero. I want to see it.”

Teofimo brings plenty of credibility without dragging Mayweather into the promotion. He presents an active, dangerous test with quick hands, explosive pop, elite counter striking. Garcia always carries dynamite in his left hook, though overcommitting against someone as sharp as Lopez creates immediate trouble.

That title bout stands on its own merit. Taking down Lopez proves infinitely more in today’s landscape than defeating an exhibition headliner pushing fifty, regardless of casual fan buzz. As Claudia Trejo noted, Garcia commands attention whenever he speaks. That massive platform works wonders, yet chasing a ghost can drown out the legitimate challenge right in front of him.

Setting a February date proves Garcia wants to compete this winter. It definitely does not prove Mayweather is scrambling to meet a deadline. With Lopez occupying the real negotiating table, Garcia’s final warning sounds like pure noise.

Super middleweight Jaime Munguía (47-2, 35 KOs) escaped a dangerous sixth round to retain his WBA title against Nikita Zon (12-1-1, 10 KOs), winning a unanimous decision that looked far more comfortable on paper than in the ring.

Scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 117-111 failed to convey how badly the Russian troubled him. Zon’s southpaw power shots repeatedly breached Munguía’s defense, and his sixth-round attack left the champion in serious danger.

Munguía fought back with combinations and sustained activity, but his defensive work was dreadful against an opponent making his first twelve-round appearance. Two sequences in which Munguía appeared to go down went unrecognized as knockdowns, sparing him potentially costly counts.

He also escaped a point deduction for a clear rabbit punch, with the referee’s handling adding to an unsatisfying result. Zon exposed far more than expected, while Munguía needed his work rate and some favorable officiating to get through a thoroughly unconvincing title defense.

A severe cut ended Ricardo Blandón’s (21-7, 14 KOs) short-notice title challenge in round three, giving WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza (29-0, 25 KOs) a TKO victory.

The ringside doctor stopped the scheduled twelve-round fight when the damage over Blandón’s eye became too serious to continue. Espinoza had already taken charge, using his long jab and steady pressure to keep the challenger occupied.

Blandón struggled to close the distance and generate enough offense to disrupt the champion. He had stepped in for Lorenzo Parra with roughly a week to prepare, leaving him a difficult task against the unbeaten Mexican.

The medical intervention brought an abrupt end before Espinoza could turn his early superiority into a sustained beating. Espinoza kept his belt comfortably, but the replacement opponent and cut-short contest offered little evidence about how his next major challenge might unfold.

Reito Tsutsumi (6-0, 5 KOs) made short work of Raymundo Rojas García (16-3, 11 KOs), stopping the Mexican in round two of their scheduled ten-round super featherweight contest. Rojas could not match the Japanese southpaw’s hand speed and found himself on the receiving end of clean combinations. Tsutsumi forced the pace from the outset, leaving his opponent little opportunity to mount an attack.

The difference in technique was apparent as Tsutsumi put his punches together and sustained the pressure. Rojas’s experience offered few answers against a fighter who was consistently quicker to the target. The TKO gave Tsutsumi a fifth straight stoppage, with this bout providing little chance to examine his ability over a longer distance. He handled the heavy favorite’s role emphatically, although stronger opposition is needed to test how much more he has to offer.

Carl Jammes Martin pulled off a major upset, lifting the WBC Silver featherweight belt from David Picasso by ten round split decision. Martin beat the favored Mexican to the punch round after round, firing crisp southpaw combinations that forced Picasso into an uncomfortably brisk pace.

Picasso owned the physical dimensions to manage the distance, yet he failed to establish his reach with enough conviction to keep the shorter man off him.

A handful of frames hung in the balance, but Martin’s sharper, heavier blows caught the eye during the heated exchanges. Picasso had his moments, yet his output regularly tailed off, letting valuable minutes slip away.

Martin maintained his intensity through the final bell, doing enough work in the championship stretch to persuade two of the ringside judges. Moving up in weight against a seasoned contender was a gamble, but the unbeaten Filipino seized the opportunity and claimed the signature win of his career.

A final round knockdown sealed Sultan Almohammed’s unanimous decision win over Erick Jahir Urvina Villegas in a six round super featherweight scrap. The 18-year-old Saudi prospect pushed the pace from the outset, keeping the Mexican under steady pressure. Urvina Villegas (5-3-3, 1 KO) showed plenty of grit by hanging in there, forcing the teenager to log more ring time than he had seen in most of his early outings.

Almohammed (6-0, 4 KOs) dictated the terms with his relentless work rate, even if he could not find the finishing blow. Urvina Villegas deserves credit for staying competitive while clearly being outgunned. The knockdown in the sixth provided an exclamation mark, erasing any doubt on the scorecards. For a young fighter used to quick nights at the office, having to grind through six hard rounds offered valuable development.

Bek Nurmaganbet needed less than three minutes to wipe out Marcos Vázquez Rodríguez, delivering a devastating stoppage that immediately had the DAZN broadcast calling it a candidate for Knockout of the Year.

The scheduled ten round super middleweight contest was halted at 2:57 of the opening frame after Nurmaganbet dropped the Mexican veteran twice. The heavy artillery proved far too much, ending any hope of a competitive scrap before it even began.

Vázquez Rodríguez had zero answers for the Kazakh southpaw, whose laser precision backed up every bit of his early aggression. The 37-year-old veteran brought plenty of experience into the ring, but none of it mattered against that kind of concussive force. Vázquez Rodríguez was coming off a previous loss, meaning stiffer tests will ultimately determine Nurmaganbet’s true ceiling.

Still, the unbeaten prospect did exactly what elite punchers are supposed to do, closing the show in style and stealing the spotlight on the undercard.

Super middleweight Emiliano Rojo (22-0, 9 KOs) secured Mexico’s first victory of the evening, stopping Flavius Biea (24-4, 12 KOs) in round four of a scheduled eight-round bout. The unbeaten 20-year-old set the tempo from the opening bell, steadily walking down the Romanian veteran. Biea found himself smothered, unable to create room or find answers for the sustained pressure coming his way.

The referee called a halt at 1:37 of the fourth round. Rojo remained composed throughout, measured in his attack rather than recklessly hunting an early knockout. Biea entered the ring having suffered recent stoppage defeats, so the win reveals little about how Rojo might hold up against top-tier competition. The young prospect took care of business precisely as planned, getting the veteran out of there with four rounds to spare.

Brayan León kept his perfect record intact by taking an eight round unanimous decision over Hector Aguirre in a super middleweight bout on the prelim card. The Cuban prospect pushed his record to 13 wins with nine knockouts, though Aguirre made him grind for every minute.

León opened rounds sharply before his tempo faded, inviting the Mexican to press forward into close range combat. León repeatedly retreated toward the ropes instead of keeping his opponent busy. Aguirre (7-1, 3 KOs) lacked the power to turn the fight around, yet his relentless pressure prevented a dominant display. León walks away with the victory, but he clearly has adjustments to make before stepping into deeper water.