According to Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya, WBC jr. middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will defend his title against against former welterweight champion Paul Williams on September 15th, which happens to be the coveted boxing weekend of Grito de Dolores, better known as Mexican Independence Day. The bout is set to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although no network has been named, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer previously revealed that Alvarez would be headlining his first pay-per-view event in September. That being said, one can assume that Golden Boy Promotions is hoping that the bout will be distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View.
"I'm doing Canelo versus Paul Williams, and that's confirmed for Sept. 15. I'm on a mission to put on a spectacular event from top to bottom, and it's all done, baby. Sept. 15, and it's a go. I don't say that it's a done deal until it's a signed deal," De La Hoya informed Lem Satterfield of Ring Magazine earlier today. "So it will be live from the MGM in Las Vegas. It has no network yet. That's going to be up to my man, Richard Schaefer. So I'm going to have my man, Richard Schaefer, now deal with HBO and Showtime to see what he can come up with."
Alvarez is coming off of an impressive and dominant unanimous decision victory over three-division world champion and future Hall of Famer "Sugar" Shane Mosley in a bout which took place on the undercard of Mayweather vs. Cotto on Cinco de Mayo. Williams last fought in February, defeating Nobuhiro Ishida via unanimous decision. With Golden Boy Promotions working quickly to lock in a September pay-per-view date for Alvarez, one has to wonder what that will mean for the much talked about potential September showdown between middleweight king Sergio Martinez and WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., assuming he gets past Andy Lee next month and assuming promoter Bob Arum actually wants to make the fight.
[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]