by David P. Greisman
Golden Boy Promotions’ namesake chief executive reiterated what his vice president had previously said — Canelo Alvarez could go on to face Billy Joe Saunders after Canelo’s upcoming bout with Liam Smith.
But Oscar De La Hoya was otherwise noncommittal.
“There are no plans right now,” De La Hoya said on an Aug. 24 media conference call. “The only plan that we have is to stage an exciting event Sept. 17.”
That didn’t wholly mesh with what Golden Boy vice president Eric Gomez told Steve Kim of BoxingScene.com earlier this month, when Saunders didn’t agree to a deal to appear on the pay-per-view undercard to Alvarez vs. Smith.
"The door's open and we're going to see if we can get something done. We haven't stopped communication, so we'll see," Gomez said.
Pressed on this, De La Hoya conceded that “there is a possibility” Canelo goes on to face Saunders next, but that the focus is otherwise on Smith.
De La Hoya was then asked about his comments earlier on the call regarding a potential future fight with Gennady Golovkin. He described Canelo, who is the lineal middleweight champion but who won that recognition while weighing 155 pounds and facing a 153.5-pound Miguel Cotto, as a 154-pound fighter who is “going to go up to 160 when his body feels ready.”
Why, De La Hoya was asked, is Canelo potentially ready to go up to 160 next to face Saunders but otherwise wouldn’t be willing to face Golovkin at that weight until no earlier than the second half of 2017?
“Well I mean like I said our focus … and Canelo’s focus is fighting at 154, but after this fight his team and ourselves will sit down and discuss future opponents,” De La Hoya said.
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