Canelo Alvarez next fight: Mexican has mandatory U-turn from IBF; Gennady Golovkin trilogy likely

Canelo Alvarez was ordered to defend his unified middleweight titles against Sergiy Derevyanchenko on Wednesday, only to then hear this was an 'error.'

The IBF, whose title the Mexican only just won in his Cinco de Mayo unification with Daniel Jacobs, initially mandated the bout and told the parties to agree terms within 30 days or face a purse bid.

However, they have today told marvelbet369.com: "The letter notifying Saul Alvarez of his mandatory was sent in error too soon.

"Sergiy Derevyanchenko is his mandatory. However, since he [Canelo] is a unified champion there is a rotation.

"Alvarez also has the right to request an exception."

Derevyanchenko is a 13-1 (10 KOs) Ukrainian middleweight, little known even in the boxing world.

His most notable bout came last year when he fought Daniel Jacobs for the vacant IBF middleweight title and was beaten by split decision.

Jacobs since lost that belt to Canelo, while the 33-year-old Derevyanchenko outpointed Jack Culcay to earn back the position as mandatory challenger.

As a result, he’s now in line for another title shot, though it seems this won't come as soon as he thought.

The news opens the door for a potential trilogy fight between Canelo and Gennady Golovkin, who is due to return on June 8 against Steve Rolls.

With their first bout a highly controversial draw and the second a contentious Canelo win, it’s expected that DAZN have lined up a third contest to take place between them on September 14.