By Miguel Rivera

José “Chepo" Reynoso, manager of WBC junior middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (40-0-1, 29KOs), has applied the pressure to reach a finalized deal with James Kirkland (31-1, 27KOs) for a pay-per-view showdown on September 15th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Canelo is scheduled to begin his training camp in July, says Reynoso. They are hoping a deal is reached with Kirkland, but if the two sides are unable to reach a financial agreement, then Reynoso will consider WBA "regular" champion Austin Trout (24-0, 14KOs), who defends the title against Delvin Rodriguez on Saturday night in California.

“We would very much like to see Kirkland accept this fight. His team is analyzing the risks that are involved in fighting with Canelo. Otherwise, we will consider Austin Trout, if he does well this weekend," Reynoso said.

Canelo was anticipating a tough defense against Paul "The Punisher" Williams. That fight was called off only days after being finalized, as Williams was involved in a serious motocycle accident on Sunday and now the boxer is paralyzed from the waist down.