Canelo Focused, Not Distracted By Talk of Saunders in December

By Miguel Rivera

Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs) is fully focused on the upcoming fight with WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13KOs).

The HBO Pay-Per-View fight is scheduled for September 17th at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Recently the co-featured attraction for that pay-per-view card had fallen through. WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders was going to make a defense of his world title. If he and Canelo would have walked away victorious in their respective fights, they would have faced each other on the tentative date of December 10.

Saunders is now officially off the PPV card. He turned down several possible opponents, including Gabe Rosado, and Golden Boy Promotions made a decision to take him off the show.

Golden Boy's VP Eric Gomez informed BoxingScene.com that they are still very much interested in having Canelo challenge Saunders in December.

Canelo is not paying attention to the recent turn of events with Saunders. He wants to keep his mind fixated on Smith.

 "The first thing is to win this championship, to win this fight. We are planning to fight three times this year, but right now all we are thinking about is what's going to happen in this fight," Canelo said to ESPN Deportes.

As far as the ongoing training camp, Canelo is very pleased with his level of work.

"Things are going very well. We always try to do our best in camp. As always we are focused on the opponent, the style, but we are ready. We are very happy [with the camp. Whenever I go to Texas or anywhere people treat me very well. I am received very well. Thank God we are doing well on that and I try not to worry. I am grateful to the people for the support they give me. I hope to have a great night," Canelo said.