Canelo Alvarez has wanted to fight on Cinco De Mayo weekend for a few years now but the Mexican holiday has always been occupied by Floyd Mayweather. For the first time in almost a decade the first weekend of May isn’t locked by ‘Money May’ and Canelo wasted no time snatching it up.
ESPN’s Dan Rafael spoke with Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez about Canelo’s next fight.
Gomez told ESPN.com on Tuesday that he and Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya will meet with Alvarez and his team later this month to go over all the particulars for the HBO PPV fight.
Gomez said there are a few places in the running to host the fight. He said Golden Boy has placed holds for the date in various arenas, including the new MGM Grand/AEG-owned 20,000-seat Las Vegas Arena, which opens just off the Strip in April. If Alvarez fights there in May, it would be the arena’s first boxing event.
Even though the new Las Vegas arena seems like the most logical landing spot for the event Golden Boy Promotions wanted to make sure Canelo had his choice of host city, so they’ve locked up 5 arenas over 3 different states for May 7th.
Gomez said they also have holds on the MGM Grand Garden Arena (where Alvarez has fought six times) in Las Vegas, the Alamodome (where he has fought once) in San Antonio and New York’s Madison Square Garden (where he has never fought).
I must admit it seems right for the most popular Mexican fighter in the world to lay claim on one of the cultures biggest holidays.