Canelo Alvarez vs Miguel Cotto (Photo : Isaac Brekken | Getty Images Sport)
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez took the mantle of boxing's prized fighter even though his win against Miguel Cotto was not impressive.
Still, to the victor belongs the spoils and now he takes over the throne-or at least the selected fight dates of Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
From Boxing site Bad Left Hook, Canelo Alvarez will take over the May/September fight schedules from Money May in 2016, "which means the new middleweight champion will be back in the ring next on May 7, the first Saturday of the month, and one of boxing's two traditional big fight weekends."
The article also stated that the Mexican fighter wanted to do that this year since those dates are near Mexican holidays, but it was impossible to take it from Mayweather, especially since Floyd scheduled the Pacquiao fight in May.
Now Canelo, a Mexican, reclaims those dates for his countrymen.
The big question is on who he will fight. While Pacquiao has already mentioned April 9 as his preferred date due to the Philippine elections, he has yet to find a worthy opponent. On the other hand, Oscar de la Hoya hesitates to schedule a Canelo vs GGG fight right away.
BLH speculates that Canelo may take a "victory lap" fight in May, in which a new champion would not take on the biggest challenger right away, but take on a (perceived to be) weaker opponent.
Canelo being 25 years old and Pacquiao turning 37 in December, Canelo would be favored over him. It also works for Canelo that Pacquiao does not back down from bigger fighters. It should be recalled that Pacquiao pummeled Miguel Cotto into a TKO victory 5 years ago.
But Canelo feels that he is the better fighter now, and taking on Pacquiao on possibly his final fight would be a big money grab.
In the Boxing subreddit thread about Canelo vs GGG, user 'marianass' talked about "a great fight in September" which led other users to comment that Pacquiao could be the opponent in May.
