Canelo Dream or Delusion? Eubank Jr. vs. Benn Winner Eyes Alvarez, Raising Questions of Merit and Line-Skipping.

Promoter Ben Shalom says Chris Eubank Jr. wants Canelo Alvarez next if he’s victorious against Conor Benn this Saturday night in their family feud on DAZN PPV at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

Unified super middleweight champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) is reportedly the guy that the winner of the Eubank Jr. vs. Benn will fight in 2026. However, there could be a rematch between them later this year before the winner would face Alvarez for whatever titles he has, if any, next year. Turki Alalshikh would be the one who would finance a fight between the winner of Saturday’s British domestic scrap against Canelo next year.

Fighting for Canelo

It’s troubling for many fans to picture Eubank Jr. (34-3, 25 KOs) or Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) skipping the line to fight Canelo, because neither of them would be worthy of the fight. They’re both essentially British-level fighters, and they leapfrog over these 168-lb contenders if they were given a free title shot against Alvarez in 2026:

– Christian Mbilli
– Diego Pacheco
– Osleys Iglesias
– Bruno Surace
– Caleb Plant

Just imagine an unproven Conor Benn fighting Canelo for his titles. It would make a pure mockery of the sport, showing that it’s just about cheap entertainment, playing to the UK audiences that don’t mind watching celebrity boxing. Americans would be put off by the idea of Benn or Eubank Jr fighting Canelo without them beating some of the above fighters.

I didn’t include Edgar Berlanga or Hamzah Sheeraz among the top fighters at 168 that the Benn-Eubank Jr. winner would be skipping because I don’t view either of them as true top-tier fighters. They’re in the same fake category as Benn and Eubank Jr, completely worthless.