After successful defense, Canelo vacates WBC belt

Joshua Dahl/USA Today (file photo)

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Almost two weeks after knocking out Amir Khan to retain his belt, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez announced his plan to relinquish his WBC middleweight title.

The WBC officially recognized Alvarez's decision on Thursday (Philippine Time) with a statement saying, "The WBC has received official confirmation from Golden [Boy] Promotions with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez to vacate the WBC middleweight championship.... The WBC wishes Canelo Alvarez great success in his career..."

The announcement came at the heels of the ongoing negotiation for Alvarez's supposed mandatory title defense against Gennady Golovkin, who effectively takes over as the new 160-pound winner.

"Gennady Golovkin is hereby recognized as the undisputed WBC middleweight champion of the world," the boxing organization further announced.

The WBC gave both camps 15 days from Alvarez's title defense to make the fight happen as a championship fight, but Alvarez's decision is a probable sign that the ongoing talks could take a long time or worse may fail.

However, Canelo made it clear that he still wants the Golovkin fight to happen.

"I instructed my team at Golden Boy Promotions to continue negotiating a fight with Gennady ‘GGG' Golovkin and to finalize a deal as quickly as possible.... I will fight ‘GGG,' and I will beat ‘GGG' but I will not be forced into the ring by artificial deadlines. I am hopeful that by putting aside this ticking clock, the two teams can now negotiate this fight, and ‘GGG' and I can get in the ring as soon as possible and give the fans the fight they want to see," said Alvarez in a statement.

The WBC hopes, "[We] will certainly look forward to see Golovkin vs. Alvarez materialize in the future."

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