Former WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee expects Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) to give a lot of problems to IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs).

The fight was officially announced this past Saturday night, and it takes place on September 16th.

A few years ago Lee was scheduled challenge Golovkin for the titles, but the fight was called off when GGG's father passed away.

Lee views the contest as being very close, with Canelo having the edge in several categories.

"It's an interesting fight and really hard to split them," said Lee to Off The Ball. "Neither of these guys take a backward step. Canelo has probably better hand speed and has better counter-punching ability I would say and he throws punches in combinations. He's the younger fighter. He'll be 27 when they fight.

"I just think they're going to meet in the middle and with Canelo's counter-punching ability and his timing, he's going to give Golovkin a lot of problems. But he's also going to give him opportunities for Golovkin to land. It's like Hagler-Hearns. In my eyes it's on that level."

So far 2017 has been red-hot with intriguing matches. Lee considers Canelo vs. Golovkin as being the best of the bunch and views it as the best possible fight, at the present, that can made.

"This has been an incredible year for boxing already with so many of the biggest and best fights and the top fighters facing each other. But this is probably up there with the best. This is probably the best fight of the year that's been made as I can see," Lee said.

"Because although Joshua and Klitschko went beyond expectation and went beyond the hype, you still thought Joshua was untested and Klitschko's over the hill a little bit and Tyson Fury is still there so maybe he's the best in the division. With this there's no doubt that these are the two best fighters in the division facing off and it's for all the championship belts so when it's over, we'll have a unified middleweight champion."