Canelo Focused on 5/2 Date, With or Without Cotto

By Miguel Rivera

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (44-1-1, 31KOs) is mentally set on returning to action on May 2nd, Cinco De Mayo weekend - and told Mexico's HK 950 that his plans to fight on that date are not dependent on a deal being finalized for an HBO Pay-Per-View fight against WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32KOs).

Canelo stated that he "stepped aside once" in order to allow Floyd Mayweather Jr. to fight on the date. And says "he won't do it again."

Mayweather Jr. (47-0, 26KOs) traditionally fights on the first weekend of May. Canelo, tired of taking a backseat to Mayweather on the date, left Showtime and jumped over to HBO to get first priority treatment. Mayweather has an exclusive contract with Showtime. Canelo feels a Mexican fighter should occupy that date.

While Canelo continues to target May 2, Mayweather is also saying that he plans to fight on the date with Amir Khan being a frontrunner to face him - should the British fighter defeat Devon Alexander next Saturday in Las Vegas.

But unless Canelo has a high profile opponent like Cotto, then most of the cable operators will likely side with Mayweather if both fighters begin a tug of war to reserve the date.