Boxing News 2014: Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez Could Face Erislandy Lara in Next Fight July 12

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez could face Erislandy Lara in his next fight on July 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said via BoxingScene.

Schaefer announced that Alvarez personally picked Lara as his next opponent because the former WBC light middleweight champion wants to prove that he is not afraid of the 30-year-old Cuban.

"I think the two best 154-pounders next to Floyd Mayweather - is Lara and Canelo," Schaefer said. "This is the guy Canelo wants to fight. He was very clear. He didn't want to hear other names. There are other names, but the one he really wants is Lara. He feels the fans, the public and the media feel he is afraid of fighting Lara."

Schaefer made it clear that the date and venue of Canelo's next fight is already set, but they are still in the process of finalizing the details of the possible showdown with Lara's camp.

Lara is scheduled to defend his WBA light middleweight title against Ishe Smith on May 2 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, but the title showdown is in jeopardy at this point.

If Lara's camp agrees to a deal to fight Canelo, Lara is expected to be pulled out from his May 2 fight with Smith to avoid running risk of sustaining a costly injury.

"Obviously, as part of the negotiations we would have to evaluate if he is going to be staying in that fight or not. That is all part of the ongoing negotiations," Schaefer said of Lara's title defense against Smith.

The fight date is being questioned by boxing analysts because it would fall exactly a week before the pay-per-view showdown between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Gennady Golovkin on May 19.

Schaefer is not worried, though. He expressed confidence that the proposed Alvarez-Lara showdown will produce good ratings like Alvarez's previous fight against Alfredo Angulo, which reportedly generated 350,000 buys.

"They are different pay-per-views on different dates," Schaefer said. "The UFC has pay-per-views on different dates [in the same month as a boxing PPV] and the pay-per-view industry is certainly big enough to carry more than one pay-per-view [in the same month]. It's sort of like a menu where you go into a restaurant and you order what you want, and either you buy something or you don't."