Eddie Hearn reveals Canelo Alvarez to take pay cut by fighting in Mexico next

Eddie Hearn has revealed that Canelo Alvarez will be taking a paycut by fighting in Mexico next.

The Mexican superstar has been out of the ring since his trilogy matchup with Gennadiy Golovkin last September. In that outing, Alvarez dominated en route to a unanimous decision victory. With that, he ended his rivalry with 'GGG' on a high note.

However, it wasn't all good news that night, as the super-middleweight champion announced a hiatus. At the time, Alvarez was expected to miss upwards of a year due to a hand surgery that he badly needed. As it turns out, that estimate was off.

Canelo Alvarez is expected to return in May against John Ryder. 'The Gorilla' captured the WBO interim super-middleweight championship against Zach Parker last November, and he will now look to upset the dominant undisputed champion.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the fight was expected to land in Mexico. While there had been reports that the bout could land in the U.K., Eddie Hearn has now confirmed that the matchup is targeted at Alvarez's home country.

However, if the fight takes place there, Canelo Alvarez will take a hit. In an interview, Eddie Hearn revealed:

“It’s not done yet but Ryder in May is the plan. He’s coming back from the injury and Ryder’s the first mandatory that he’s got at 68. Ryder is interim. He’s happy for that fight so now it’s just where? It will probably be USA or Mexico I think Canelo would like to do a fight in Mexico but it’s a pay cut. We are thinking somewhere in Guadalajara but it’s still a big difference when you look at the gates.”

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Eddie Hearn gives update on Canelo Alvarez vs. John Ryder

While reports have emerged that Canelo Alvarez will fight John Ryder in May, that's not set in stone.

The Mexican superstar has repeatedly called to fight Dmitry Bivol next. The Russian previously defeated him in May 2022, with talks of a rematch going away in favor of a trilogy with Gennadiy Golovkin.

Likely thanks to those calls, the matchup with John Ryder wasn't one that Eddie Hearn saw coming, as he stated in an interview with BoxingScene. There, the head of Matchroom Boxing gave an update, stating that the fight should be announced soon.

He stated:

"The Zach Parker fight came up which was a bit of luck really and won it and now - hopefully he’s going to get the Canelo fight but there’s still a bit of work to be done. I think this week hopefully we can announce.”