WBC Puts Martinez's Canelo Mandatory on Hold

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman put interim super middleweight champion Lester Martinez's mandatory status against Canelo Alvarez on hold Wednesday at the 64th Annual WBC Convention in Acapulco, saying the organization will wait until Alvarez resolves his contract situation and identifies his next high-profile fight.

Martinez, 21-0-1 (17 KOs), appeared before Sulaiman and the ratings committee seeking the next shot at Alvarez, who recaptured the WBC belt by unanimous decision over Christian Mbilli on Oct. 31. The WBC's recap of the mandatories session said Alvarez has one bout remaining on his four-fight contract, and that Guatemala's interim champion is seeking a fight with him. Fightnews, covering Day 3 of the convention, likewise reported that Martinez was on hand and expressed his desire to challenge Alvarez. As of this publication, there has been no official announcement of Canelo's next fight.

Sulaiman told a Martinez representative that Alvarez has not informed the WBC of official plans for his next "high-profile" fight, and that the council will wait to hear from him, Lance Pugmire of BoxingScene reported from Acapulco. "We will get back once Canelo decides what is the situation with his contract," Sulaiman said. BoxingScene identified that contract as the one with Saudi boxing financier Turki Alalshikh.

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"I spoke with [Alvarez] directly. They are more than willing to fight Lester Martinez, but they want to do it at the biggest stage possible," Sulaiman said, according to BoxingScene. "So if you have a defense of the interim title, you may proceed, and we will have maybe one month to discuss what would be the proper steps in the super middleweight division."

Speaking later to reporters, Sulaiman said the WBC has a custom of trying to avoid, "as much as possible, having challengers that aren't really at the level of … the champion," and that because Alvarez has just regained the title, the organization is giving him "a resting period to analyze the options he has and to let us know what the next step is." He added: "Lester Martinez is interim champion. He will defend the interim championship, anyway. So, no one gets hurt, activity is maintained, and we look to provide the fights at the right time, at the highest level."

Martinez, answering from the floor, did not treat the delay as a courtesy. "More than asking for another opportunity, I am here to enforce the right that the WBC placed in the interim championship to be able to fight against the absolute champion, and hopefully we will receive that great opportunity," he said, per BoxingScene.

Those options around Alvarez are still unsigned. His trainer, Eddy Reynoso, has recently described England's new WBC light heavyweight champion, Willy Hutchinson, as an option and has also pointed to a possible rematch with Terence Crawford, which we covered when Reynoso spoke earlier this week. Related Canelo talk, including discussions involving Turki Alalshikh and Hutchinson, is in the Whisperer's Nov. 9 and Nov. 10 items. None of that is a booked fight.

Additional context on the rules and the paper trail comes from Rodrigo Corona of SI Mexico, and those details should be read as SI Mexico's reporting. Corona writes that Article 3.22 of the WBC rules says an interim champion does not automatically become the mandatory challenger — that requires a prior written order from the president or his representative — and that Article 3.7 gives the WBC the authority to designate challengers, with authorization or ratification by the Board of Governors. SI Mexico also reports that in December 2025 the WBC determined the winner of Christian Mbilli vs. Hamza Sheeraz would have to face Martinez as mandatory; that fight was called off, and in January 2026 the organization updated the resolution to leave Martinez's case subject to evaluation. According to SI Mexico, Sulaiman said the WBC will also evaluate Silver champion Diego Pacheco and the rest of the top five at 168 before making a designation, and that Martinez, after the ruling, now prefers a Canelo fight in September 2027, around independence celebrations in Mexico and Guatemala. Pacheco faces Darius Fulghum on Saturday in Carson, which we previewed earlier this week.

No Canelo-Martinez fight has been signed or announced, and the mandatory remains on hold pending the WBC's revisit in about a month. Once a bout is booked, you can log a pick in Fight Picker.