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‘Canelo’ Alvarez wants time to negotiate before facing Gennady Golovkin

It wasn’t too long ago Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was fired up inside the ring of T-Mobile Arena about facing Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.

Alvarez told HBO’s Max Kellerman after defeating Amir Khan in May that he didn’t have time to mess around and was ready to put on the gloves right then for a middleweight showdown against Golovkin.

The Mexican superstar had a different tune when he spoke to the Review-Journal this week.

Alvarez, 26, said the fight with Golovkin will eventually happen but a matchup of this caliber needed time for negotiations.

“For me, I’m already going to fight (Golovkin), but this is the type of fight that needs to take time with negotiations, and many other things relating to that,” Alvarez said. “We all want that fight, but like I said, negotiations take time for this type of fight and we’re trying to fix everything to make it happen.”

It’s been reported that Alvarez’s camp came to a verbal agreement with Golovkin’s people to hold the mega fight for next fall.

Alvarez, who considers himself a junior middleweight, was expected to use the extended period to fight in a few middleweight tuneups before meeting Golovkin, who owns the IBF/WBA/WBC belts at 160.

The Mexican boxer instead chose to stay at 154 pounds to face England’s Liam Smith for his WBO belt on Sept. 17 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Smith, 27, said he knows he’s not the opponent the boxing world wants to see face Alvarez next. The Englishman doesn’t care and has plans of spoiling the Alvarez-Golovkin match.

“I want to stand in the way of that,” Smith said. “Make it a big moment for me and to give me bigger fights for myself.”

Alvarez said he has plans of fighting for a middleweight title at the end of the year once he’s done with Smith. WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders owns the only major belt Golovkin doesn’t have.

“Liam Smith is a strong fighter who moves forward and with good combinations,” Alvarez said. “He is young, it’s a hard fight.”

Schaefer gets Nevada license

Richard Schaefer was granted a promoter’s license by the Nevada Athletic Commission this week for his newly founded Ringstar Sports.

The well-known promoter returned to boxing last month after a long hiatus stemming from a no-competition clause in a settlement with Golden Boy Promotions.

Schaefer co-founded Golden Boy with Oscar De La Hoya in 2002 and was a big reason why it turned into one of the top promotional companies before the two split.

Porter’s big announcement

Shawn Porter is expected to make a “major” announcement Saturday regarding his future in boxing.

It’s unknown whether the Las Vegas resident plans on revealing his next fight and opponent. The last time the former welterweight champion was in the ring he lost to Keith Thurman in a Fight of the Year contender in June.

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow him on Twitter: @gmanzano24

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