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Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya says that an announcement for Canelo Alvarez's September 15 fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas could be coming on Friday (so tomorrow), and is making it sound all dramatic and the like:
"Let’s put it this way - history, will you be part of it? That’s all I can say. Will you be part of it because it will be history," said De La Hoya.
Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KO) has had a terrible time getting an opponent for the date. James Kirkland was offered the fight but turned it down, Paul Williams signed up before his tragic motorcycle accident, Kirkland stepped back in and then reneged, and then Victor Ortiz was the opponent, but he lost to Josesito Lopez on June 23.
Several names have been batted around for the date since then, including Austin Trout, but there have been no really strong rumors or anything that sounded close to being signed.
Fight Hype is reporting that Ricardo Mayorga's name has come up, and that Golden Boy and Don King spoke about the idea this past weekend. Mayorga (29-8-1, 23 KO) still talks a good game, but hasn't beaten a top-level opponent since his rematch with Vernon Forrest in 2003. For the last decade, he's been more or less a famous name that good fighters beat. The 38-year-old Nicaraguan brawler hasn't been in the ring since he was stopped by Miguel Cotto in March 2011, and there hasn't exactly been any demand to see him since then.
If they do go with Mayorga, you could easily argue that it's yet another washed-up has-been thrown in there by Golden Boy, but the silver lining for them this time is that unlike when Canelo fought Kermit Cintron and Shane Mosley, they can say for a fact that they tried to do better here and it just didn't happen. It's not a certainty that it's Mayorga, but sure, I could see it happening.
And that not jibing with Oscar's "history" comment means nothing. These guys talk nonsense all the time and then ignore that they ever said it. And De La Hoya could be talking about the idea of it being on CBS instead of Showtime, which hasn't been totally shot down yet. Canelo vs anyone on CBS would, in promoterspeak, be "history" for sure.