Eleider Alvarez to face Robert Berridge on July 29

Eleider Alvarez has a new opponent for his return next Friday in Quebec City, as he’ll be facing New Zealand veteran Robert Berridge in the PBC on Spike co-feature.

Alvarez (19-0, 10 KO) is currently the WBC’s mandatory challenger at light heavyweight, and is expected to face the winner of the Adonis Stevenson-Thomas Williams Jr main event by the end of this year. He was originally slated to face Maximilian Jorge Gomez, but Gomez pulled out and was replaced by former champion Chad Dawson.

Earlier this week, Dawson also withdrew from the fight with an injury, leaving Alvarez’s team scrambling to find another opponent.

Enter Berridge (27-4-1, 21 KO), a 31-year-old who was scheduled to fight again on August 13 in Auckland, so he has at least been in camp. His most notable fights have come against Thomas Oosthuizen, Vasiliy Lepikhin, and Blake Caparello, all losses.

It’s certainly not a great opponent, but that was never the plan here, anyway. This has always been about showcasing Alvarez and keeping him sharp before a world title shot later this year.