By Edward Chaykovsky

If Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs) comes out on top this coming Saturday night, there are five potential options for his next fight, which is tentative for December 10th.

Canelo is back on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas when he challenges WBO junior middleweight world champion Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13KOs).

The next step would be a move to the middleweight division at the end of year, which is supposed to be a big step towards a potential fight with IBO/IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in September of 2017.

Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez, who promotes the Mexican star, told the Los Angeles Times that Canelo could face WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, former middleweight champion David Lemieux, Curtis Stevens and winner of Gabriel Rosado vs. Willie Monroe, which takes place on the Canelo-Smith undercard.

Saunders is scheduled to defend his title on October 29th as part of the Fury-Klitschko II undercard. Stevens is a very dangerous fighter, who was featured on Canelo's pay-per-view undercard in May. It's very difficult to see Stevens getting the fight. Lemieux, who Golden Boy handles, will return to action in a stay-busy fight next month. The most likely candidate, Rosado (who Golden Boy also promotes), could end up securing the fight is he's successful with Monroe.

As BoxingScene.com previously reported, Canelo's next fight could very well take place at New York's Madison Square Garden.

“I had a plan for Canelo this year to have him fight in the biggest arena in the West Coast [Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena], the biggest stadium in the U.S. [AT&T Stadium, among the NFL’s largest] and then possibly in New York in December,” De La Hoya said to the paper. “That’s something no other fighter has ever done. That vision to broaden his fan base is critical, because next year is going to be a huge year for the sport and for Canelo.”