By Keith Idec

The eventual showdown is quite an obvious possibility, but neither Saul Alvarez nor promoter Oscar De La Hoya wanted to talk much about it on a conference call Thursday.

Nevertheless, if Alvarez can overcome former three-division champion Shane Mosley on May 5 in Las Vegas, and undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. beats Miguel Cotto later that night at MGM Grand, Alvarez-Mayweather would be an intriguing fight for later this year or in the first half of 2013.

“It’s definitely something we have to sit down and talk about, after the fact, after May 5,” De La Hoya said. “But those would be the plans in the near future.”

Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs) would love to challenge Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs), but he knows the past-his-prime Mosley’s motivation is to pull off an upset and get back toward the top of boxing’s food chain. Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs, 1 NC) is 0-2-1 since his unforeseen domination of Mexico’s Antonio Margarito three years ago in Los Angeles, yet still dangerous.

“Nothing is going to break my concentration, my focus,” Alvarez said. “I’m concentrating solely, 100 percent on Shane Mosley. I have the experience now. It happened to me once, precisely on the card when Floyd fought Shane [in May 2010].

“I was a little distracted because it was the big card, the big event, the media, the people, the scenery. So I’ve learned from that. Today I’m 100-percent concentrated on the task at hand, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

The 21-year-old Alvarez acknowledged he wants Mayweather, but he also understands he’ll have to be patient.

“Floyd is on the throne,” Alvarez said. “He can decide right now [who he wants to fight], because he is at the top. He’s, pound-for-pound, the best fighter in the world. And all we have to do is keep working hard, keep winning our fights and that is my goal, to fight the best fighter in the world. But, you know, one at a time.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.