WBC cruiserweight champion Ilunga Makabu assured that he would not only get the knockout victory against Canelo Alvarez but he would also do it in a better way than Dmitry Bivol did.
I’m Here, I’m Waiting And I’m Ready: Ilunga Makabu
During the WBC convention last year in November, Eddy Reynoso made a formal request to the body for Canelo Alvarez to move up to cruiserweight to challenge Ilunga Makabu. But since the Congolese had the mandatory defense against Thabiso Mchunu, it could not be done.
Nonetheless, after defeating Mchunu via split decision at the Packard Music Hall in January, Makabu once again called out Canelo, but the Mexican went on to face Dmitry Bivol and then Gennadiy Golovkin. Nonetheless, Makabu is still interested in the fight.
“If Canelo still wants to fight me, I’m going to knock him out,” said the African boxer in an interview with DAZN. “I’m going to do better than Bivol did. I am disappointed [that the fight did not take place] because Canelo is the best fighter so far and I really want to fight the best, and there was no opportunity.”
In May of this year, Canelo and Bivol met at 175 pounds, but the Russian dominated the fight and took the fight by triple unanimous decision 115-113 on the cards. In the end, it seemed that the immediate rematch would take place, but Canelo decided to go down to 168 again and defended his undisputed belts in the trilogy against Golovkin in September.
Makabu became the world champion in January 2020, when he beat Michael Cieslak by unanimous decision on cards of 116-111, 114-112 and 115-111. Since then he has made two successful defenses of the title.
The last one was on January 29, 2022, when he had a rematch against Mchunu. That function was held in Ohio, United States, and was in charge of the legendary promoter Don King. Makabu won via split decision on scorecards 116-112, 113-115 and 115-113.
“If you want to make history, I’m here, I’m waiting and I’m ready,” Makabu went on, “I know everyone has been waiting for this fight. I want boxing fans to know. Canelo was the one who challenged me. I’m still the champion, but Canelo never came to fight me, but I’m sure Canelo realized that it was going to be difficult to fight Junior Makabu.”
