Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has moved on, though he still has a choice and with little room to spare for his next fight.

The Ring has confirmed that Guadalajara’s Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 knockouts) has parted ways with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), just eight months after the two sides entered a three-fight agreement last summer. Just one bout came of that deal, as the two sides could not find common ground on an opponent for a previously planned May 4 PBC on Amazon Prime Pay-Per-View event from Las Vegas.

ESPN’s Mike Coppinger and ESPN Knockout’s Salvador ‘Chava’ Rodriguez were first to break the story.

The same date and general location still remain the target for Alvarez, who will now work out terms through his own Canelo Promotions. The two leading candidates are Brooklyn’s Edgar Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) and Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs).

Berlanga, No. 9 at super middleweight by Ring, is promoted by Matchroom Boxing, who will likely take the lead for the May 4 DAZN PPV date though such details are not yet confirmed. Munguia, No. 4 at 168, is promoted by Zanfer Boxing, who has partnered with Golden Boy Promotions for 17 of his 43 career bouts including his past 16 fights.

The Ring has confirmed that Alvarez-Munguia talks have been ongoing, despite recent reports where Alvarez claimed during a recent TV Azteca interview that his next opponent would not be a fellow Mexican.

Munguia and Berlanga advanced to the top of the queue after Alvarez, The Ring and undisputed WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO super middleweight champion and No. 4 pound-for-pound fighter, and PBC reached an impasse on his May 4 opponent.

Alvarez was adamant about facing Houston’s Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs), the WBC middleweight titlist who would have moved up in weight for the fight. The Ring confirmed that PBC was reluctant to move forward with the fight for the asking price—Alvarez was guaranteed a minimum $35 million, plus Charlo’s compensation as well as the rest of the show which did not figure to do the type of business that justified the cost.

Alvarez previously outpointed Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs), Jermall’s twin brother who moved up two divisions from his Ring and undisputed 154-pound championship reign for their September 30 Showtime PPV event from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout was uncompetitive and largely forgettable, to the point where any pre-fight thoughts of Alvarez facing both Charlos in succession were largely dulled in the aftermath.

Jermall Charlo ended a 29-month inactivity stretch with a ten-round, unanimous decision over Jose Benavidez Jr. Their November 25 non-title fight did not do anything to generate demand for an Alvarez-Jermall Charlo fight.

Additionally, Charlo recently denied any knowledge of an agreement to face Alvarez in May. He emphasized that point in a video taken on Valentine’s Day from Turks & Caicos while on vacation with his family.

Ironically, PBC was prepared to guarantee that same amount for an Alvarez-Munguia fight, though largely at the mercy of the Mexican superstar; Munguia is not on the PBC roster.

There was also an aggressive push for a WBC title consolidation bout versus interim titleholder and former two-time full WBC beltholder David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), the No. 1-ranked Ring contender. Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz instead arranged for Benavidez to next face Ukraine’s Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs) for the interim WBC light heavyweight title, to headline a PBC on Prime PPV event likely in June.

Munguia emerged as the leading candidate to land the dream assignment after a ninth-round knockout of England’s John Ryder (32-7, 18 KOs) on January 27 at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Munguia immediately called for an all-Mexico clash with Alvarez during his post-fight interview, but was uncertain at the time if he would land that fight.

The undefeated 27-year-old has since emerged as the leading candidate for a fight that would now headline a DAZN PPV event. The Ring has learned that DAZN prefers Alvarez-Munguia for its May 4 date, and then Alvarez-Berlanga in September, while Alvarez prefers to face Berlanga next and Munguia later in the year.

The Ring has confirmed that the matter is expected to be resolved this week.

Berlanga, the No. 9 super middleweight, entered the mix after a sixth-round knockout of Belfast’s Padraig McCrory on Feb. 24 at Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida. The win was right on time for the 26-year-old Nuyorican, who ended a five-fight knockout drought in the WBA super middleweight title eliminator.

The ring has learned that an Alvarez-Berlanga would satisfy a mandatory title defense obligation with the sanctioning body. Alvarez also has an outstanding, though yet to be ordered, mandatory for the IBF, whose leading contender is William Scull (21-0, 9 KOs).

The Ring has learned that Scull was previously tabbed to appear on the May 4 undercard had Alvarez moved forward with the second of his three-fight deal with PBC. It is not clear whether that deal will remain in place as this goes to publication, given Alvarez’s recent split with PBC.

Alvarez will attempt his seventh defense of at least two super middleweight titles, and fourth as Ring and undisputed champion.

The four-division titlist outpointed previously unbeaten Callum Smith (29-2, 21 KOs; currently No. 5 at 175) in December 2020 to win the WBA ‘Super’ and vacant WBC belts. Alvarez then claimed the WBO and IBF belts in subsequent stoppage victories over Billy Joe Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) and Caleb Plant (22-2, 13 KOs; No. 3 at 168), both of whom were unbeaten titleholders at the time.

Alvarez became the sport’s first-ever undisputed super middleweight champion after his Nov. 2021 knockout victory over Plant. He unified all the major titles in a span of under eleven months which included a Feb. 2021 third-round knockout of WBC mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim.

The historic run to fully unify the 168-pound division was followed with his second career defeat. Alvarez dropped a May 2022 unanimous decision to Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs), No. 2 at 175, in a failed bid to win the WBA light heavyweight title. He since returned to super middleweight, where he has scored unanimous decision victories over Gennadiy Golovkin in their September 2022 trilogy clash; England’s Ryder last May 6 in Zapopan, just outside his Guadalajara home; and Jermell Charlo last September.

Jake Donovan a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writer Association of America. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox