Canelo Alvarez is scheduled to return to the ring on December 6, and two of the possible three candidates to oppose him have been eliminated from contention. Demetrius "Boo Boo" Andrade has been tabbed to face Matt Korobov for the vacated WBO middleweight title on a date to be determined, and James Kirkland has agreed to fight Gabriel Rosado in Atlantic City on November 8, as an undercard attraction for Bernard Hopkins vs. Sergey Kovalev.
Kirkland and Andrade signing on to other fights leaves Joshua Clottey as the remaining candidate to take on Alvarez, unless a surprise contender emerges from left field. Clottey is the oldest of the three fighters-he will be 37 come fight night-and went on a hiatus from boxing that lasted nearly two years after back-to-back losses to Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao in 2009 and 2010.
Clottey returned to the squared circle in November 2011 and defeated Calvin Green by TKO in the second round of an eight-round bout. He is 3-0 since returning, most notably beating Anthony Mundine by unanimous decision in Australia to claim the WBA International junior middleweight title.
There is no doubt that Alvarez will be a heavy favorite to beat Clottey, and unlike his first two fights of 2014, this one will be aired on Showtime's premium cable channel, not pay per view. Following this bout, Alvarez appears to have decided on challenging Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s dominance over Cinco De Mayo, informing Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya that he wants to schedule the next bout on May 2.
"I have orders from Canelo," De La Hoya said. "He wants to fight on May 2 and I, as his promoter, have to get him a fight on these dates that he requests."
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