By Victor Salazar

New York - For the last couple of years, the big topic of debate for Canelo Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KO's) is whether or not he is an actual middleweight. Although Alvarez is the lineal middleweight champion, he has never fought at the middleweight limit of 160-pounds. 

But for his next bout, taking place on May 6th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Alvarez will face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KO's, 1 NC) at a catch weight of 164.5 pounds, nearly 5 pounds above the middleweight limit.

Canelo makes it clear that after this spot, his next move is 160 pounds.

“I’m going to be at 160 after this fight,” Alvarez told BoxingScene.com through his interpreter Robert Diaz.

Canelo still holds the WBO junior middleweight title, a belt that he indicated to his team that he most likely will not defend.

“I been talking about that with my team and I think the plan is to stay at 160 pounds and not defend the 154 pound title,” stated the Mexican superstar.

Alvarez feels he’s also taking a risk in jumping up in weight.

“It’s a risk we are both taking, he losing some pounds to come down and I have to come up a few pounds,” explained Alvarez. “We were in different weight classes and at one point I didn’t think a fight would happen but it came at a right moment and sometimes you need that in boxing. The fight took different paths because he was moving up in weight and my career was moving in a different path and now we’re here and that’s all that matters.”

As for any concerns of Chavez Jr. making the weight for their highly anticipated bout on HBO pay-per-view, that’s not a concern for Alvarez.

“We’re not worried about that, he has to worry about that. It’s in the contract so I hope he’s a man of his word and honors his contract.”