ATLANTIC CITY — Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said he expects to meet soon with Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto with the goal of matching them in a Mexico-versus-Puerto Rico megabout, if not, determining another junior middleweight rival for Alvarez.

Schaefer said he hoped to have an opponent for Alvarez “within the next few days or within the next week.”

Schaefer’s remarks were made on Saturday during a press conference at Boardwalk Hall, site of Bernard Hopkins’ unanimous decision victory over Karo Murat a few hours later.

The gathering was convened to allow Schaefer and Showtime Executive Vice President Stephen Espinoza to unveil a major reconfiguration of their boxing programming in the month of December, and turned to a discussion of the Mexican Alvarez, the Puerto Rican Cotto, and the 154-pound division.

“I’m going to be meeting as well next week with Canelo Alvarez, and then, I’m going to be meeting with Miguel Cotto as well to see what the possibilities and what the opportunities are,” said Schaefer. “But the fact is that I anticipate that within the next few days or within the next week that I’ll be announcing when Canelo will be fighting next, and then, we’ll see who is out there and there are a lot of names for Canelo.”

Alvarez lost by majority decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and was dethroned as RING and WBC 154-pound champion last month after having unanimously decisioned previously unbeaten Austin Trout in April.

A three-division titlewinner, Cotto had lost consecutive unanimous decisions to Mayweather and Trout in May and December of last year before scoring a third-round knockout of Delvin Rodriguez on Oct. 5.

Cotto is “a free agent”, according to his legal advisor, Gaby Penagaricano, even as he aligned with Top Rank for his fight with Rodriguez after having lost to Mayweather and Trout under the banner of rival Golden Boy.

“There is nobody from Top Rank who is going to be sitting at that meeting,” said Schaefer when asked if Top Rank would be involved in negotiations with Cotto. “If Miguel Cotto wants to fight, no problem, but it will have to be without Top Rank.”

An Alvarez-Cotto bout would be huge given that Alvarez’s loss to Mayweather grossed a record $150 million, and Cotto is widely considered the most lucrative pay per view attraction in boxing behind Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

But Schaefer said he is prepared to match Alvarez against others if a Cotto fight does not come to fruition, such IBF titleholder Carlos Molina, or, hammer-fisted Mexican Alfredo Angulo, each of whom had been targeted for separate bouts on a Dec. 14 card headlined by WBA beltholder Adrien Broner against Marcos Maidana.

Schaefer indicated that Angulo’s intended opponent, Jorge Melendez, had priced himself out of their bout. Meanwhile, Molina was freed up when IBF President Daryl Peoples stated that he would not grant Molina permission to face former WBC 147-pound beltholder, Victor Ortiz, who is not rated by his organization.

Another possible bout for Alvarez could be the winner between Trout and Erislandy Lara, a fight slated for Dec. 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“If it’s not a Cotto, it could be a Molina, or it could be an Angulo. I mean, there are plenty of names. It could be the winner of the Lara-Trout fight. So there’s plenty of opportunities. But I think that Molina certainly is going to be fighting sometime in the beginning of the year,” said Schaefer.

“We’re going to be sitting down with Alfredo and planning on doing something probably in January, maybe from Los Angeles with Alfredo Angulo. Then, obviously, we have Molina as well, the 154-pound IBF world champion. So we’re going to see what’s going to be happening with him.”

Schaefer also said Molina-Angulo “could be a matchup.”

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]