Saúl "Canelo" Alvarez finally received his official World Boxing Council (WBC) diamond middleweight belt recently, although the boxing world is more inclined to find out whom he intends to face next for his interim bout.
With both Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin granted permission to take on interim bouts before finally facing each other, names such as Willie Monroe Jr. and Gabriel Rosado have recently cropped up through the Boxing Junkie.
Other details regarding his next fight seem to have already been set. The fight is expected to take place on May 7 and it will reportedly be held at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, as reported by Boxingscene.com.
The venue is available since normally it would be Floyd Mayweather Jr. reserving that schedule for his bouts. Since he is officially retired, Golden Boy Promotions was given approval and thus allowed to stage a Nevada Athletic Commission card on the said date (Cinco de Mayo weekend).
So the only thing left is the opponent he intends to face. Monroe and Rosado are good fighters but if Alvarez does end up fighting one of them, many feel that the Mexican brawler may be planning to take it easy.
Recently, however, a new name has been inserted into the mix of possible opponents — Liam Smith. Such was confirmed by Franke Warren via liverpoolecho.co.uk and it seems that Smith and company are seriously considering it.
Smith stands to benefit from the fight as well, with the rise of Alvarez in the middleweight division. Smith won the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title in October, the same one that Alvarez vacated originally. Smith made a successful defense of the title last month against Jimmy Kelly in Manchester.
With Smith's name thrown into the mix, he seems a more impressive choice for Alvarez. It remains to be seen if that tiff would come to fruition, however.
