Memo to GGG: Trainer says Canelo is 2 to 3 fights from facing a true middleweight

By Norm Frauenheim-

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez is not a middleweight now and probably won’t be one until sometime next year.

That, at least, was trainer Eddy Reynoso’s likely timetable when asked Thursday whether Canelo’s next fight would be against a true middleweight if he beats Amir Khan Saturday at a catch-weight in his first defense of the WBC’s 160-pound title.

“No, not at all,’’ Reynoso said during a trainer’s roundtable at the MGM Grand. “Maybe in two or three fights. But now, not at all.’’

The plan is for Canelo to fight two more times this year, once in September and again in December. He intends to fight both times at 155-pounds, the contracted weight for the HBO pay-per-view bout against Khan at the new T Mobile Arena.

The question, however, is whether Canelo still will have the WBC title if the 5-to-1 betting favorite beats Khan.

According to an agreement with the WBC for an interim fight after his victory for the belt over Miguel Cotto in November, Canelo has 15 days after the Khan bout to reach an agreement with Gennady Golovkin, the mandatory challenger and presumptive middleweight champion.

Without an agreement with GGG or another deal for an interim bout in the wake of a predicted Canelo victory, the WBC’s next step would be to strip the popular Mexican of the title.

“We will follow the rules,’’ WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman said.

Canelo’s stubborn demand for a catch weight has generated controversy over whether the 25-year-old is ready for thunbeaten and feared Golovkin.

“We’re ready to fight anyone,’’ Reynoso said. “It’s not a difficult fight. It’s a hard fight to make and we’re going to have to sit down with Oscar De La Hoya to do that.

“But as a fight, it is not difficult, because he (GGG) is a fighter who comes forward.’’

Bernard Hopkins, De La Hoya’s promotional partner, defends Canelo’s right to demand a catch weight.

“Who’s the star?’’ said Hopkins, a longtime middleweight champ in 2004 when he agreed to a 158-pound catch weight for a bout against De La Hoya.

Hopkins came in at 156 and won a ninth-round stoppage in a career-defining bout. De La Hoya was fighting at middleweight for only the second time, but his celebrity propelled Hopkins to more money and media attention than he would have received against any other fighter.

“The guy fighting on Cinco de Mayo weekend is the guy generating the numbers,’’ Hopkins said. “He’s the star. Why does everyone want to give GGG a free pass?’’

Canelo has said that GGG has fought a collection of nobodies. A couple of those nobodies are on Saturday’s undercard. There’s David Lemieux, who lost to GGG in October. There’s Curtis Stevens, who lost to GGG in November, 2013.

“Triple-G not being ready for Canelo?,’’ said Lemieux, who faces Glen Tapia Saturday night. “I don’t think that’s the case. Sometimes, people have got to say whatever they want to say.

“But we all know Triple-G has a long amateur history. He’s a very good fighter. And it’d be a very interesting fight if he fought Canelo. Canelo has fought a lot of tough opponents, but so has Triple-G.”

Canelo, Stevens said, has the leverage because of his pay-per-view numbers, including 900,000 for his victory over Cotto.

“Canelo, he’s the man, the pay-per-view superstar, and he is a junior-middleweight, not a true middleweight,” said Stevens, who fights unbeaten Patrick Teixeira Saturday. “Canelo makes the rules in this case. It’ll be a good fight if it happens.”