Former light heavyweight world champion Eleider “Storm” Alvarez takes on Michael “Cannon Handz” Seals in a 10-round main event on January 18 at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, NY, live stream and televised on Top Rank on ESPN and ESPN+.
Alvarez (24-1, 12 KOs) was born in Colombia but relocated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada where he lives and trains. The biggest moment of his professional boxing career came when he faced WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev on August 4, 2018. The Colombian native pulled off a shocker by stopping the fearsome puncher in round 6 to claim the WBO world title.
His title reign was short lived, he would lose the belt six months later in a rematch to Kovalev. At 35, Alvarez knows his clock is ticking and he still feels he can make another run at a world title.
It has been nearly a year since he last fought and during the time off to recover from a foot injury, Alvarez has a renewed motivation and feels well rested and ready to step back into the boxing ring.
Seals (24-2, 18 KOs) is a former college football player from Mobile, Alabama. The 37-year-old is an underdog heading into tonight’s fight and has yet to hold a world title.
The motivation for Seals is still to become a world champion. He needs to shock the world tonight and show he is still capable of being a top contender with a win over Alvarez a former world champion.
For Seals to win he must find a way to land his power punches. His best attribute is his knockout power with 18 of his 24 wins coming by KO.
Given their styles Alvarez vs. Seals has the potential to be a fan friendly action packed fight.
Top Rank on ESPN Fight Card
Light Heavyweight – Eleider Alvarez vs. Michael Seals
Lightweight – Felix Verdejo vs. Manuel Rey Rojas
Super Bantamweight – Jonathan Guzman vs. Rodolfo Hernandez
Featherweight – Christopher Diaz vs. Adeilson Dos Santos
Lightweight – Abraham Nova vs. Pedro Navarrete
Heavyweight – Devin Vargas vs. Victor Bisbal
Heavyweight – Jared Anderson vs. Andrew Satterfield
Eleider Alvarez vs. Michael Seals will stream live on ESPN, Saturday January 18, 2020, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT. The preliminary undercard fights will stream live on ESPN+ starting at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
