By Miguel Rivera

As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs) confirmed the possibility of facing WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12KOs), at 160-pounds, on a date in December.

Canelo returns on on September 17th at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas - when he faces Saunders' stablemate Liam Smith for the WBO junior middleweight world title.

Canelo has fought his last five bouts at 155-pounds, and briefly held the WBC middleweight crown before vacating the belt to drop back to 154.

Like Canelo, Saunders has announced that his next world title defense will take place on September 17th. There have been rumors of that defense taking place on Canelo-Smith undercard as a tool to further build a fall fight  between Canelo and Saunders.

Saunders' defends on the Canelo-Smith card has yet to be finalized although Golden Boy Promotions is pushing to make it happen.

Canelo wants to build his path to the full middleweight limit of 160-pounds. There is a verbal deal in place to for a September 2017 showdown with WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs) in September of 2017. Golovkin defends his belts on September 10th against IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook at the O2 Arena in London.

Canelo is not looking past Smith, but hopes Saunders continues to win.

"Hopefully he won't lose until the fight happens, or else it wouldn't be interesting. That is the plan for December but let's see what happens. First things first, I'm focused on my fight with Liam Smith on September 17 and then we will see what happens in December," Canelo said to ESPN Deportes.