Canelo's career has seen him become a world champion in multiple divisions. He's beaten big names like Billy Joe Saunders, Miguel Cotto, Danny Jacobs, Gennady Golovkin, and Callum Smith. These wins put him at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings for a while.
But Canelo's career hasn't been without losses. He lost to Floyd Mayweather early on, and more recently to Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight in 2022. Canelo has said he wants to get back at Bivol for that loss.
In a recent video, Canelo was asked to pick fighters for his ideal boxing team. For heavyweight, he chose Usyk without hesitation.
Usyk became the undisputed heavyweight champion in May. He's set to fight Tyson Fury again in December. They'll be fighting for three heavyweight belts, as the IBF title has been vacated.
In their first fight, Usyk won and became the first undisputed heavyweight champion in almost 25 years, since Lennox Lewis. The ninth round was key, with Usyk landing a big shot that made the referee give Fury an 8 count. That moment helped Usyk win on the scorecards.
Right now, there's no undisputed heavyweight champion. Daniel Dubois holds the IBF belt. The winner of the Fury-Usyk rematch might try to get that belt next year to become truly undisputed.
Canelo's choice of Usyk as the top heavyweight shows how much respect the Ukrainian fighter has earned in the boxing world.