Is a rematch with Miguel Cotto in the works for Canelo Alvarez? Photo: Naoki Fukuda

Oscar De La Hoya said he isn’t entirely committed to sticking to the World Boxing Council’s mandate that Canelo Alvarez face Gennady Golovkin in a middleweight unification match later this year if both prevail in their upcoming fights. And he admitted a rematch with Miguel Cotto instead is an option.

“It might be,” the Golden Boy president said on Tuesday.

It was perhaps the firmest indication yet that De La Hoya and Alvarez are exploring the possibility of facing someone else later this year instead of Golovkin, his mandatory. De La Hoya — pressed on his intentions after Alvarez faces Amir Khan on May 7 — acknowledged a rematch with the 35-year-old Cotto is a possibility after the first fight was won by Alvarez and did over 900,000 buys on PPV.

De La Hoya and Alvarez spoke on a conference call to hype Alvarez’s RING and WBC middleweight championship (155 pounds) against Amir Khan on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on HBO PPV. But Khan was seldom mentioned in the nearly one-hour call.

Instead, De La Hoya and the 25-year-old Alvarez did their best to dance around a fusillade of questions concerning the possibility of Alvarez facing Golovkin later this year. The World Boxing Council has directed the winner of Khan-Alvarez to negotiate with Golovkin 15 days after their May 7 fight or they will be stripped of their WBC title and it will be presented to Golovkin — provided he takes care of his mandatory, Dominic Wade, on Saturday on HBO.

De La Hoya was asked about the possibility of defying the WBC order. He admitted he’s thinking of Alvarez vs. Golovkin, but he’s not committed to the WBC’s timeline of facing Golovkin in his next fight. “Exactly, exactly,” De La Hoya said on the call.

De La Hoya spoke on why he wouldn’t commit himself to the WBC’s order, referencing unfinished business with Khan and the presence of a rematch clause in the contract. “Because in boxing you never know what’s going to happen,” De La Hoya said. “I cannot talk to you and say that Amir Khan is an easy fight because it’s not, and the rematch clause is in place for a reason because Amir Khan is a real threat, and I cannot commit to something – this fight hasn’t even happened.”

De La Hoya and Alvarez have been coy about their intentions after Khan. But more and more, with every ambiguous response, it seems as though Golovkin may be left hanging immediately after May 7.

“Well look, obviously it’s a fight – the question is not if but when,” De La Hoya said earlier in the call. “And that’s a fight that, as a promoter, it’s a fight that I want to see and the world wants to see, but as a promoter I want it to be the biggest event in the history of this sport to attract fans and to bring back the fans that we lost when people witnessed Manny Pacquiao versus (Floyd) Mayweather (in May). So my question every single day is how can I accomplish that? This fight has to happen at the perfect moment, at the perfect time and I think we’re getting close.”

Alvarez said as a fan of the sport he would watch Golovkin on Saturday defend his IBF and WBA middleweight titles against Wade at The Forum in Inglewood, California. “Yeah, if I have the time, if I’m free on Saturday I’ll sit down and watch it,” Alvarez said through a translator, Eric Gomez, VP of Golden Boy. “If not, I’ll probably record it and watch it later. I follow boxing so, yeah, most likely I’m going to watch it.”

Alvarez declined to discuss the idea he will be stripped of his belt if he doesn’t face Golovkin next, saying he’s focused on Khan. He also addressed when he might face Golovkin.

“Look, it’s in my future plans,” Alvarez said. “It’s definitely in my future plans. I want to have that fight. I want to give it to the fans. I’m just not sure when. Right now, I’m focused on Amir Khan. That’s my fight. I want to fight three times (this year). That’s my goal. But anything can happen in this fight with Amir Khan. Sometimes you can have a plan and it changes.”

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