Hold the Cinco de Mayo takeover talk: Canelo Alvarez plans to attend Saturday's card

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez is sidelined from his annual Cinco de Mayo fight weekend because he underwent elbow surgery last year, but the four-division champion will still be present at Saturday’s pay-per-view festivities at T-Mobile Arena.

With stablemate and former world champion Jaime Munguia fighting for Armando Resendiz’s WBA super-middleweight belt in the co-main event, Mexico’s Alvarez is planning on attending the show, streamed by Prime Video and DAZN.

Alvarez trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso told BoxingScene Wednesday that Alvarez 63-3-2 (39 KOs) will attend the card.

With the exception of COVID in 2020 and a suspension in 2018, Alvarez has headlined a Cinco de Mayo weekend card every year since 2015. 

It’s an intriguing appearance as Alvarez’s longtime adversary David Benavidez, 29, is headlining Saturday’s card as he moves up to cruiserweight for the first time to meet unified WBO/WBA champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez 48-1 (30 KOs).

Benavidez 31-0 (25 KOs), who was kept on pause as WBC top-ranked and mandatory contender by then-undisputed champion Alvarez, has designs on making Cinco de Mayo weekend his fighting holiday moving forward.

Alvarez, 35, is expected back in the ring in mid-September in Saudi Arabia on the other prominent boxing weekend, marking Mexican Independence Day.

Alvarez, who last fought on Mexican Independence weekend last year while losing by unanimous decision to now-retired five-division champion Terence Crawford, is said to be considering opponents including new WBC 168lbs champion Christian Mbilli, likely new IBF champion Hamzah Sheeraz or perhaps Mexico’s Resendiz if he retains his belt versus Mexico’s Munguia. 

The ringside seating arrangements will be something to watch as Alvarez’s former promoter Oscar De La Hoya will also be there in support of his fighters, including Ramirez and 140lbs contender Oscar Duarte.

De La Hoya has frequently blasted Alvarez on his “Clapback Thursday” social-media appearances and Alvarez famously torched De La Hoya at his 2024 news conference when he fought Munguia.