Canelo Alvarez prefers to keep his Cinco de Mayo weekend date

LAS VEGAS – As negotiations with promoters continue this week, Canelo Alvarez still intends to keep his traditional Cinco de Mayo fight date, an official close to the situation told BoxingScene Friday.

While Mexico’s Alvarez, 62-2-2 (39 KOs), remains in talks for a potential multi-fight deal with Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh and a September date against fellow four-division champion Terence Crawford, the official gave credence to the news earlier this week that Premier Boxing Champions-linked TGB Promotions has requested the May 3 date at T-Mobile Arena – the site of 11 Alvarez fights since he knocked out Amir Khan in the venue’s first boxing event in 2016.

“That’s [Alvarez’s] date and it has been for some time, with only a few exceptions,” the official told BoxingScene.

The Nevada Athletic Commission will conduct a Tuesday hearing where perhaps more will be revealed about the TGB request.

Until then, the official’s revelation is notable since the majority of focus on Alvarez has revolved around the meeting with fellow pound-for-pound elite and current WBA junior-middleweight champion Crawford, 41-0 (31 KOs).

Additionally, Alalshikh is planning a May 2 card for New York marking the comeback appearances of Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney in separate fights. 

The official said as of Friday morning no contracts involving Alvarez are signed. It’s unclear how a May bout would be brokered to include both PBC/TGB and Alalshikh.

As Alvarez showed last year in defeating countryman and former 154-pound champion Jaime Munguia in May and unbeaten knockout specialist Edgar Berlanga in September, his opponent choice matters less than staging a “Canelo fight weekend” in Las Vegas since it typically ensures strong live-gate and pay-per-view sales over the festive weekend gatherings.

While some have theorized an ideal May foe would be Cuba’s William Scull, who forced his IBF mandatory position and got the sanctioning body to strip Alvarez of his undisputed super-middleweight claim, the official said it’s not a given that three-belt champion Alvarez feels empty without that fourth belt.

The Alvarez-Crawford match could be further billed as a battle of undisputed champions – Crawford previously wiped out the 140-pound and welterweight divisions – but the official said “[Alvarez] has already done the undisputed versus undisputed thing” when he dominated former undisputed 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo in September 2023.

Other logical contenders for Alvarez might be WBC/WBA No. 1-ranked Christian Mbilli and WBA No. 1 Diego Pacheco, who fights Crawford stablemate Steven Nelson Saturday on DAZN at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.  

Since 2015, Alvarez, 34, has staged eight Cinco de Mayo fight cards.

“He’s made it his date and at this point, he’d like to keep it,” the official said.