By Eric Thomas: The Mayweather pay per view fight card on HBO on May 4th just got a lot better with the news that WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) will be fighting on the undercard against an opponent still to be determined at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo had been rumored to be fighting on the undercard, but it wasn’t confirmed until today.
Steve Kim said on his twitter “On a boxing note, [Keith] Kizer Kizer said all he’s been told for certain on May 4 is that “Canelo” Alvarez will be on the card vs. TBA.”
This is going to make the card much better, as WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s) is also scheduled to be fighting on the undercard provided that he gets past his February 16th opponent Gavin Rees with a win and without any injuries.
Golden Boy Promotions is looking at putting Alvarez in with one of the following opponents: Miguel Cotto, Austin Trout, and James Kirkland. A lot of boxing fans still want to see Alvarez face Cotto, but that’s something that may be difficult to put together given that Cotto was beaten recently by Trout earlier this month. Golden Boy is betting that the casual boxing fans either won’t have a clue about that fight having taken place or won’t care that he lost.
The main thing that Golden Boy is looking for is a fighter with a name to fight Alvarez so that he can become a bigger star and eventually a main event pay per view star in his own right. If they put him in with Trout, the fight won’t get the same kind of attention that the Cotto-Alvarez fight would despite the fact that Trout proved himself better than Cotto.
Kirkland-Alvarez might be an interesting fight, but Kirkland hasn’t fought since March of this year when he beat Carlos Molina. Kirkland looked slow and terrible in that fight, and ended up injuring his right shoulder. He had surgery on the shoulder and that’s kept him out of the ring. It’s unclear what the status is on Kirkland’s shoulder.
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