By Radio Rahim
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya is finishing up the final touches on the junior middleweight fight between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and James Kirkland. The HBO televised fight is targeted for May 2nd, likely at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The fight is potentially going to move to May 9th - if Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao is finalized for Cinco De Mayo weekend.
But Kirkland was not Canelo's first choice. The popular Mexican fighter was trying to get himself in the ring with WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto.
After weeks of negotiations, Canelo walked away from those discussions after being very frustrated over his inability to reach an agreement with Cotto.
Both Canelo and De La Hoya were under the strong impression that Cotto had another opponent in mind.
"We felt that Cotto had other plans. We strongly...will that fight eventually happen? Absolutely. [But right now] we're not looking for it whatsoever. Canelo has his own career to make. Canelo is selling just as many if not more pay-per-views than Cotto, so I'm hoping as a fight fan that fight happens [eventually]," De La Hoya told BoxingScene.com.
And the opponent Cotto was potentially trying to get? De La Hoya has stated in several interviews that he's convinced Mayweather will face Cotto in a rematch - if the Pacquiao discussions fall apart.
"Obviously the Mayweather carrot has been dangling over a lot of people's heads over the last few months," De La Hoya said.
