Saul “Canelo” Alvarez said he is ready to fight middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin, but the new WBC middleweight champion insisted he will only battle the undefeated Kazakh at a catchweight-stipulated match.

Canelo (46-1-1, 32 KOs) scored a unanimous decision victory over Miguel Cotto on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) in a sold-out Mandalay Bay. But the Mexican champ did not have enough time to savor his triumph after the fight as the scene quickly shifted to his impending title defence against Golovkin.

"Gennady Golovkin is a great fighter, and he is my friend," Alvarez said, reports the NZ Herald. "I have respect for him, but if we do fight, it's going to be at my weight class. I'm the champion, and I don't have to do what he wants."

Canelo has long declared he has no intentions of fighting Golovkin at full 160 pounds, insisting that he is only built to fight at the junior middleweight class. However, Canelo has been able to rehydrate at 170 pounds in his fight against Austin Trout two years ago, which suggests the Mexican fighter could meet Golovkin at the full middleweight limit.

Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs), on the other hand, has also insisted that he would not drop down to 154 or 155 in fighting Canelo as he is more focused on unifying all the middleweight titles. But the undefeated Kazakh seems to have developed interest in fighting Canelo after the latter showed a great game and sold huge PPV numbers.

The WBC has mandated the winner of Cotto-Canelo to face Golovkin, which suggests Canelo does not have the luxury of being picky in fighting “GGG.” Moreover, Canelo has a pre-fight agreement with the organisation that gives him 15 days to negotiate with Golovkin or his title will be relinquished.

Dan Ambrose of Boxing News 24 noted that Canelo “can’t force” Golovkin for a catchweight-stipulated match under the 160-pound limit, considering WBC’s mandate to the fighter. Ambrose also noted that if Canelo insists on using a handicap for his title defence against Golovkin, the WBC should be ready to do their job of stripping him off of the middleweight belt.

Meanwhile, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya affirmed to the boxing world that a Canelo-Golovkin fight will happen, but admitted that he will have to talk to Canelo first and discuss their next move. However, De La Hoya seems to be looking at a possible Canelo rematch with retired boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., with the new WBC middleweight champ slated to fight on major Mexican holiday weekends in May and September next year.

“Mayweather’s retired,” De La Hoya said, reports the LA Times. “If Mayweather decides to come back, Canelo Alvarez has May reserved and we would love to explore the option.”

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