Canelo will challenge Mayweather for September date

For the second time this year Saul Canelo Alvarez will make an attempt to fight on a Mexican holiday weekend. Canelo said that he plans on fighting September 12th whether or not Floyd decides to fight that day. Floyd announced two weeks ago that he intends on finishing his contract with Showtime in September. For the last three years Floyd has been fighting on the Mexican Independence Day weekend. Canelo plans to challenge Floyd for that date.

Earlier this year Canelo made the same attempt. For the Cinco De Mayo weekend Canelo was hoping to land Miguel Cotto to secure the May 2nd date. When those negotiations fell through, he remained set on fighting on that day despite Floyd saying he was going to as well. It wasn't until a Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown was secured that Canelo finally backed down, moving his fight against James Kirkland to May 9th.

This time though Canelo will not move so easily. If he finds a way to land the Cotto fight, the September 12th date is the date he will shoot for. Mayweather right now has no option that will push Canelo away from fighting on that day. A Cotto-Canelo showdown is the biggest fight in boxing right now, and if it manages to go through, that fight will make Showtime think twice about putting Mayweather up against it. If Canelo doesn't land Cotto next, and steers away from Golovkin, then it would seem likely that even if Canelo fought on September 12th the fight would not be PPV worthy. His options are limited outside of those two. There could be a situation where Canelo fights on HBO, and Mayweather fights on Showtime PPV that same night. Given Mayweather's track record of inconsistency it's hard to believe whether he will fight on September 12th or not. His options seem thin at this point as well. Either way, that September 12th date is likely to have a big boxing event planned, which is always good for the fans.