Floyd Mayweather vs Canelo Alvarez Leading Candidate For May 5

Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions says that Canelo Alvarez is the leading candidate to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr in a 150-pound catchweight bout on May 5 in Las Vegas, according to David Mayo, and both Schaefer and Leonard Ellerbe had choice words for Bob Arum, further pushing the idea that it's Arum who is doing the most to stop the fight from happening:

"Look what happened. When Pacquiao fought his last fight, we said Mayweather was going to fight on May 5, and Arum said Pacquiao wasn't going to be available, it would have to be in June. Then, when it looked like Mayweather wasn't going to be available in May, suddenly, Pacquiao was going to fight in May. And now, suddenly, Mayweather is going to fight in May, guess what? Pacquiao isn't available until June.

"Who is he trying to fool? More and more, I think people are starting to realize he's full of shit."

Arum says that Pacquiao is still recovering from cuts suffered against Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12, an excuse that just isn't flying with anybody because for one thing, the cuts weren't that bad, and for another thing, it's pretty much unheard of for someone to need six months to heal from minor wounds like those, or frankly from any cut.

Ellerbe pretty much echoed Schaefer's sentiments:

"It's so funny how that guy waffles about every damn thing. I don't need to take up my time talking about him. At first, it was 'Pacquiao's fighting in May,' and now he says Pacquiao won't be available until June now. Imagine that."

Fact is, Arum is digging a pretty deep hole this time. Never before has he come off so much like he's desperately making a poor excuse. He said Manny could fight in May. That's when it looked like Mayweather wouldn't be available in May. And I know I'm repeating Schaefer and Ellerbe, but it's just the way it is. Now that Mayweather is available, Manny can't fight until June.

It just isn't going well for the Top Rank PR machine right now. I'm not trying to be biased, I'm really not -- but that's just the state of things as they stand today. And nobody is buying the idea that Arum is going to seriously pursue the fight for November, either, which he keeps saying as a way to maintain some goodwill or whatever the purpose of that is.

Anyway, Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KO) is ready to go for May 5, as he called out Mayweather on November 26 after predictably dealing with faded Kermit Cintron, and is planning to meet with Golden Boy in Los Angeles next week. His trainer and manager, Eddie Reynoso, told Sal Rodriguez of Record (translated text via Miguel Rivera of BoxingScene.com) that they're good to go if the deal is suitable:

"We are ready to get down to 150 pounds and make the fight. The people at Golden Boy will speak to to us next week when we travel to Los Angeles for a meeting. It is certainly a dangerous fight, but we can not miss the opportunity to face the best fighter in the world. So we'll consider the offer and if it suits us, we'll take the fight."

It looks like Mayweather vs Alvarez is going to happen. Robert Guerrero appears to be a distant second in the race (which would once again make Arum's Mayweather prediction powers pretty lousy), and the only other name anyone is throwing around is Miguel Cotto, and that's total speculation that just might make sense if both sides wanted to do it, but not something that is being discussed by Golden Boy or Mayweather.