Canelo Alvarez has made it clear that he wants a crack at revenge against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol for his next fight in September. 

What’s not clear, however, is how the soon-to-be 33-year-old Alvarez will guide his career after that. 

As the undisputed super middleweight champion, Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs) has a cadre of opponents calling him out for a shot at his crown.

A leading list of viable names includes the likes of David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, David Morrell, and Demetrius Andrade, all of whom are tied to Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions. 

A new entrant in the 168-pound division is Jaime Munguia (41-0, 33 KOs), the 26-year-old Tijuana native who’ll be fighting Sergiy Derevyanchenko at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif. on June 10 to headline a DAZN card.

Former-Alvarez promoter Oscar De La Hoya believes he has a future foe sitting in his stable in Munguia, telling BoxingScene.com in an interview that he would make the all-Mexico matchup happen “in a split second.”

“What's stopping it is that Canelo is not wanting to fight another fellow Mexican fighter, which is kind of absurd,” said De La Hoya. “Because if you're a fighter, you're a fighter. You fight anybody who is on top. You fight anybody who is in your way and is going to create a major fight for you. Munguia is right there knocking on his door. If I am going to pressure these fighters to fight Munguia, then that's what I am going to do. Going the [sanctioning body] mandatory route. By beating the guys Canelo has beaten in order to get that fight with Canelo. There are different ways. You can run but you can't hide. We're going to keep pressuring and knocking on the door.”

De La Hoya joked that if they have to make Munguia a national from Spain and give him a Spanish passport, then that's what they’ll do in order to get Alvarez to fight. 

“Whatever it takes – Jaime Munguia wants the big fights,” said De La Hoya. 

“I strongly feel that Alvarez vs Munguia, an all-Mexican showdown, is inevitable. Boxing hasn't had two Mexican warriors collide in recent times. Alvarez vs Munguia has to happen in the near future in order to keep Mexican boxing alive and thriving and bigger than ever. We have to show the fans that Mexican boxing is the very best. Canelo and Jaime, in the near future, I believe can happen.” 

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.