Canelo Alvarez - Joshua Clottey in Houston, Dec. 6th

This fight had already been semi-announced but wasn't made official, and after James Kirkland pulled out of the Gabriel Rosado fight he was immediately in the running with Clottey for a shot at Canelo. As peculiar as he may be at times, Kirkland may well have been offered the fight and once again turned it down. Either way, Oscar is now confirming that Joshua Clottey officially gets the nod for the December 6th showdown with the Mexican star.

The last time the general public saw Clottey (38-4, 22 KOs) on its TV sets was back in 2010 for a PPV match-up with Manny Pacquiao. During that fight, as is often the case in Clottey fights, we witnessed him display a tight guard yet he scarcely threw a punch, making it an easy decision victory for Pac Man. After that fight, Clottey went on a bit of a hiatus for almost two years but has since reeled off three wins, the most notable of which came this past April when Clottey decisioned Anthony Mundine (make of that what you will).

The good news is that this fight will be televised on regular HBO instead of PPV, which is actually a relief because it seems like this is set up to be a bit of another showcase fight for Canelo. I'm not saying that Canelo will knockout Clottey - who never has been - but as Zab Judah once eloquently put it, "he just wants to block all damn day!" That being the case, I pretty much see Canelo winning an easy one-sided decision because although he's had stamina issues in the past, here he won't have to worry about Clottey pushing the pace of the fight or really outworking him whatsoever.

Are any of you out there truly excited for this fight?