Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya announced that Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will not fight again this year after complaining about an ankle injury.
De La Hoya said in an interview that Alvarez approached him about a persistent ankle injury that has been bothering the former world champion since his training camp for his fight against Erislandy Lara.
"I just spoke to Canelo, and he said, 'Look, my ankle has been bothering me since the Lara fight, way before the training camp started,' and then he said, 'I just have to get this taken care of. I'd rather do it now because 2015 is going to be huge for me,'" De La Hoya said via ESPN.
The boxing Hall of Famer said that Alvarez needs to rest for at least six weeks, which makes it impossible to prepare for his originally-scheduled fight on December 6 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
GBP did not announce the Dec.6 fight, but previous reports indicated that the he was supposed to go up against former champion Joshua Clottey.
"We never officially announced the Dec. 6 fight, and now we have to regroup in the next few days or the next few weeks and see what we're going to do, but we will pursue what Canelo has wanted, and that is to fight on Cinco de Mayo," De La Hoya said.
The famed boxing promoter also added that they are now carefully studying their options for Canelo's next fight, saying that they could immediately pursue a showdown with reigning World Boxing Council middleweight champion Miguel Cotto without having tune-up fight for it.
"Going right to a Cotto fight is a big possibility," De La Hoya said. "I will be talking to Canelo and his management team in the next couple of days to see what they want to pursue. This is a minor setback. I am more than positive Canelo will have the opportunity to fight live on HBO, even if it's not next. But I hear in Canelo's voice the enthusiasm about fighting on Cinco de Mayo weekend."
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