Canelo Alvarez is ready to make his HBO debut and it will be against Joshua Clottey. Clottey has been the front rounder for this fight all summer and it was simply a matter of working out the details.
Ring Magazine was first to report the Cotto-Clottey details:
RING No. 1-rated junior middleweight Canelo Alvarez will face former welterweight titleholder Joshua Clottey on Dec. 6 on HBO at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya informed RingTV.com on Tuesday.
The UFC has had the December 6th date booked at the Mandalay Bay for awhile now and it has forced Canelo’s huge debut to take place outside of Las Vegas. The MGM Grand, where Golden Boy Promotions usually host their fights, is also booked that night for an Andrea Bocelli concert. Thus, Canelo will be forced to play second fiddle that night to UFC 181.
Oscar De La Hoya went on to drop another bombshell regarding the fight:
“Canelo is not fighting on pay per view,” said De La Hoya. “It’s on regular HBO for his fans.”
That’d be a drastics step down for Canelo after 3 straight Showtime Boxing PPVs. Not the best start for De La Hoya the manager but I’m sure this will be the last non-PPV Canelo fight for quite some time.