Saul (Canelo) Alvarez may not have been able to conquer Floyd Mayweather Jr. when they met in 2013 in the most profitable Pay-Per-View fight of all time.
Now Alvarez, 24, intends to take down Mayweather outside the ring as the sport?s biggest attraction and he has a methodical process to do so that involves the star-making machine of HBO and hijacking dates when Mayweather usually boxes.
With his squeaky-clean image and immense popularity Alvarez?s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, believes it?s entirely possible the end of Mayweather?s dominion over the sport could be near.
De La Hoya said that fans were starting to lose interest in the idea of Mayweather ever facing Manny Pacquiao and were now looking forward to seeing fresh-faced Alvarez against some of the biggest names in the sport.
?Saul Alvarez is the present and the future,? De La Hoya said on Tuesday at a luncheon at HBO?s Manhattan offices.
The first phase in assuming Mayweather?s place atop the sport has already been accomplished.
Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KO?s) admitted that he was frustrated at playing second fiddle to Mayweather at Showtime, where Mayweather, 37, is in the final leg of a lucrative six-fight deal.
With De La Hoya taking control of Golden Boy Promotions after former CEO Richard Schaefer resigned in June, Alvarez signed a long-term deal last week with HBO.
?Nothing personal,? Alvarez said about leaving Showtime, through a translator. ?I didn?t want to be second to nobody and I think that (HBO)offered that. And they?re going to focus on me. My goal in boxing is to be No. 1.?
Schaefer had a good relationship with Showtime boxing head Stephen Espinoza and steered his fighters there, forming the basis of the cold war with Top Rank that prevented a number of appetizing fights from getting made, including Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
Now with Schaefer stepping down and De La Hoya wresting control, Golden Boy is open to doing business with Top Rank.
Alvarez will likely face faded Joshua Clottey, 37, on Dec.6 on HBO and then perhaps Miguel Cotto in May of 2015 on HBO Pay-Per-View in perhaps the biggest fight of the year. Cotto is promoted by Top Rank.
De La Hoya is suing Schaefer for $50 million in damages in a case that is being held before an arbitrator that has recently ?hit a wall,? De La Hoya said on Tuesday, without elaborating.
An email to Showtime requesting comment was not immediately returned.
