Who is Callum Smith? Everything you need to know about Canelo Alvarez's next opponent

After a long wait, it is finally time for the biggest superstar in boxing to step back between the ropes when Saul "Canelo" Alvarez takes on his first fight of 2020 on Saturday, December 19.

The COVID-19 pandemic helped scupper several attempts by the Mexican fighter to compete for the first time since stopping Sergey Kovalev in Round 11 on Nov. 2, 2019. Potential showdowns with WBO super-middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders and a contest that was set to determine a new WBC champ at 168 lb against Avni Yildirim were unable to materialize in what has been a bizarre and challenging year.

However, on the final big fight weekend of 2020, Canelo will indeed go for the WBC belt against the man who holds the WBA and The Ring versions of the super-middleweight crown, Britain's unbeaten fighter Callum Smith.

Smith is well-known in his own home country as one of their best current champions. However, he has only recently begun to compete across the globe, with 22 of his first 23 fights taking place in Great Britain.

So, what should U.S. and Mexican fight fans know about Canelo's next adversary? Why is Callum Smith one of Alvarez's most difficult opponents to date?

Here's everything you need to know.

Callum Smith background, early career

Born in Liverpool, Smith is the youngest of four brothers, and all four went on to become professional boxers. The quartet also have two younger sisters.

As an amateur, Smith represented Rotunda ABC, where he won the 2010 Great Britain welterweight title and 2011 Great Britain middleweight title. He also claimed a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, but was controversially denied a spot at the London 2012 Olympics in his home country courtesy of a debatable 16:14 loss to Azerbaijan's Vatan Huseynli when a win would have sealed his place. Smith was later up for an invitational berth, only for it to go to Montenegro's Boško Drašković, whom Smith had comfortably beaten during qualification.

Callum Smith career record and bio

• Nationality: English
• Born: 23 April 1990
• Height: 6'3"
• Reach: 78"
• Total fights: 27
• Record: 27-0, 19 KOs

Callum Smith facts

• Smith's boxing nickname, "Mundo" comes from his childhood nickname "Callumundo", which came about because he was a huge fan of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
• Of the four Smith boxing brothers — Callum, Stephen, Liam and Paul — two of them have been world champions. In addition to Callum's current reign, Liam has held the WBO light-middleweight title. Paul and Stephen, meanwhile, are multi-time world championship contenders.
• Liam would then go on to lose the WBO light-middle belt to none other than Canelo in a fight that took place Sept. 17, 2016 at the AT&T Stadium, Texas. This will be the second time Alvarez has gone to war with a Smith brother.
• Smith is trained by Joe Gallagher, who won The Ring Magazine's coveted "Trainer Of The Year" award for the year 2015.
• Smith was one of the first recipients of the Muhammad Ali Trophy, awarded to winners of World Boxing Super Series tournaments. He won the super-middleweight tournament in season one.

Callum Smith's five biggest fights so far

Beat Abraham Hernandez via first-round KO, Aug. 16, 2014

On the undercard of compatriot Kell Brook's big world title win against Shawn Porter, Smith made his United States debut and made a statement when he wiped out Mexico's Hernandez with a second left in the very first round. 

Beat Rocky Fielding via first-round TKO, Nov. 7, 2015

In another one-round hammering, Smith overwhelmed fellow unbeaten prospect (and future Canelo opponent) Fielding at the Liverpool Echo Arena to win the prestigious British super-middleweight title.

Beat Nieky Holzken via unanimous decision, Feb. 24, 2018

After outpointing Sweden's Erik Skoglund in the World Boxing Super Series quarter-final, Smith won his second bout in the hot new tournament with a 12-round success on the scorecards versus The Netherlands' Holzken in Nuremberg, his first overseas assignment since the Hernandez fight.

Beat George Groves via seventh-round KO, Sept. 28, 2018

On one glorious evening in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Smith won the WBA and The Ring super-middleweight titles, as well as the Muhammad Ali Trophy, to become a world champion for the first time when he impressively took apart Groves and sent the former Wembley Stadium headliner into retirement.

Beat Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam via third-round TKO, June 1, 2019

On the undercard of Anthony Joshua's fateful heavyweight title defense against Andy Ruiz Jr., Smith had his second Stateside fight at the storied fight sports mecca of Madison Square Garden in New York City, making light work of Frenchman N'Jikam to defend his WBA and The Ring titles.