Oscar De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions, believes the first week and a half of May will be monumental for the sport.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. will fight Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in Las Vegas. Canelo Alvarez will face James Kirkland on May 9 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Golden Boy confirmed today.

“The week around Cinco de Mayo will be the biggest in years for boxing, bridging the present and the future as the three biggest stars in the sport all step into the ring in just a seven-day period,” De La Hoya said.

“It is my hope and belief that this May week will usher in a new era of our sport, one in which we as a sport give fans what they want: the best facing the best.”

The Mayweather-Pacquiao announcement was made Friday after years of frustrating on-and-off negotiations.

Alvarez has said he wants to fight regularly on the Mexican holiday weekends – Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day in September – and was originally scheduled to fight on May 2. However, he moved off that date because of the magnitude of Mayweather-Pacquiao.

Golden Boy originally considered San Antonio for the Alvarez-Kirkland fight before it landed in Houston.