When the Nevada State Athletic Commission temporarily suspended Canelo Alvarez for a doping violation earlier this month, the Mexican fighter's rematch with Gennady Golovkin on May 5 was put in jeopardy.
Then Thursday, when NSAC executive director Bob Bennett filed a formal complaint against Alvarez, cancellation of the fight became more of a possibility.
In Bennett's complaint, the commission will seek a suspension for Alvarez - which could be a year in length. The typical ban for a first offense is one year, and there is a possibility Alvarez could get that cut in half.
"After completing my investigation, I made the determination to file a complaint against Mr. Alvarez and set the matter for a disciplinary hearing during the Commission's regularly scheduled meeting on April 18th," Bennett's said in a statement. "Therefore, I am canceling the hearing that was scheduled for Friday, March 30th."
Alvarez is currently serving a temporary suspension after testing positive for Clenbuterol. His camp blamed the failed tests on tainted meat consumed in Mexico.
Still, if Bennett gets what he wants, Alvarez could not fight again until Aug. 18. (His suspension would start retroactively to his first violation which was Feb. 17.).
Golovkin has said on multiple occasions he still intends to fight May 5 whether Alvarez is his opponent or not.
His promoter, Tom Loeffler, has not disclosed the names of the other potential opponents - but in the last few days there have been several fighters calling to take Canelo's place.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone specifically because I don’t want to jeopardize the Canelo fight,” Loeffler said to Yahoo Sports.
“The priority is to fight Canelo. At the same time, if for some reason there is an adverse ruling and Canelo is unable to fight, we have to make sure we get a quality opponent for Gennady, because he has made clear he wants to fight on May 5.”