By Jake Donovan

On the heels of its succesful launch of '2 Days: Canelo Alvarez', HBO continues its pre-fight coverage leading up to the November 21 Pay-Per-View headliner between Miguel Cotto and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. 

Just one week prior to the event at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, HBO will launch the premiere of "Face Off With Max Kellerman: Cotto/Canelo." The first showing will air Saturday, November 14 at 11:30 p.m ET/PT. 

The "Face Off" series is a chance for opponents heading into a major upcoming clash to get up close and personal with one another, fielding questions from Kellerman, who also serves as the network's color commentator for all HBO and HBO PPV events. Some sessions are friendly, others far more intense, always taking place with fighters seated across from one another (complete with the series' backward chair signature).

As was the case in the previous installment featuring Gennady Golovkin and David Lemieux ahead of their Oct. 17th headliner, both fighters will be joined by their trainers, Freddie Roach and Eddy Reynoso, respectively. 

Alvarez (45-1-1, 32KOs) will make his first appearance on 'Face Off', as he is also headlining an HBO PPV for the first time in his already impressive career. The former super welterweight champ headlined three SHO PPVs in addition to a pair of Showtime Championship Boxing telecasts in his five-fight stint on the network before rejoining the HBO family in signing an exclusive contract last fall.

Cotto (40-4, 33KOs) appears on 'Face Off' for the fourth time in his career. By far his most intense session came in the buildup to his revenge-fueled rematch with Antonio Margarito in Dec. '11. Margarito handed Cotto his first loss in their July '08 war, but was busted for loaded handwraps prior to his eventual 9th round knockout loss to Shane Mosley just six months later.  

Many in the industry have retroactively suspected Margarito of enjoying a similar advantage in his first fight with Cotto, who supplied photographic evidence of bloodied handwraps while the two sat across the table in their Face-Off session. 

Cotto went on to win the rematch, scoring a 10th round injury stoppage in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden. Two losses followed, but the Puerto Rican superstar has rebounded with three straight wins since joining forces with Roach, including a historic middleweight title-winning effort over Sergio Martinez last June to make him the first-ever fighter from Puerto Rico to claim titles in four weight classes.

Both fighters scored spectacular knockout victories to set up the Nov. 21 PPV clash, oddly in fights that served as contingency plans following a failed effort to get them in the ring in May. 

Alvarez drilled James Kirkland in the third round of their May 9 brawl, which came in front of more than 30,000 in attendance at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The event marked his official return to HBO, which registered as the most watched cable TV fight since 2006, with more than 2 million viewers tuning in.

Cotto followed suit, drawing strong attendance and ratings numbers for his 4th round knockout of Daniel Geale this past June at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

Replays for "Face Off" will begin as early as Sunday, November 15, airing on both HBO and HBO2 throughout the four-week period leading up to the Nov. 21 PPV event. 

The full replay schedule is as follows (all times ET/PT):

HBO - 11/15 (12:00 p.m. & 6:45 p.m.); 11/16 10/25 (4:00 p.m. & 5:50 a.m.), 11/17 (11:00 p.m.), 11/18 (2:00 p.m.), 11/20 (1:00 a.m.) and 11/21 (12:00 p.m.)
           
HBO2 - 11/15 (3:15 a.m.), 11/17 (1:45 p.m.), 11/18 (9:45 p.m.), 11/19 (7:30 p.m.), 11/20 (7:30 p.m.) and 11/21 (5:00 p.m.).

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox