Turki: Sheeraz “Deserves” Canelo In 2026

Turki Alalshikh says Hamzah Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) “deserves” to fight Canelo Alvarez in 2026 following his fifth-round knockout of Edgar Berlanga in a WBC super middleweight title eliminator on Saturday night in Queens, New York.

Sheeraz: Canelo Fight in 2026

Turki didn’t say when in 2026 Sheeraz will fight the undisputed 168-lb champion Canelo. He also didn’t mention whether he would need to be victorious in his September 13th fight against Terence Crawford.

It would make no sense to make a fight between Canelo and Sheeraz if he’s beltless and coming off a loss to Crawford. Canelo has lost a lot of his physical tools in the last four rounds, and it’s not a given that he has enough left to beat Terence.

Sheeraz is a decent option for Canelo if he doesn’t want to give the fans the David Benavidez fight. Between Hamzah and the Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn rematch winner, Hamzah is the better choice.

We saw how easily Sheeraz disposed of Berlanga on Saturday, dropping him three times in a fifth-round knockout. Canelo was forced to go the 12-round distance to beat Edgar last September. In the final round, Berlanga landed a lot of heavy punches on Canelo. It doesn’t say much about Canelo for Sheeraz to have dispatched Berlanga so easily.

Unproven Sheeraz: Canelo Doubts?

Many U.S. boxing fans would prefer to see Turki match Christian Mbilli or David Benavidez against Canelo rather than Sheeraz, who is seen as unproven. It’s great that Hamzah beat Berlanga, but he never beat anyone good enough to be considered a talented super middleweight.

A better fight for Sheeraz to test himself would be to match him against Mbilli, and the winner of that fight can face Canelo. It would be winnable for Sheeraz as long as he can catch him with speedy combinations like he did against Berlanga.

Hamzah now deserves Canelo in 2026🔥🥊

— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) July 13, 2025