Canelo Alvarez vacated his WBC middleweight title last month to sidestep the constraints of the WBC, which had ordered Alvarez to face middleweight knockout artist Gennady Golovkin.

Now, Alvarez and promoter Golden Boy have managed to put off facing Golovkin again, brokering a verbal agreement with Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler on Tuesday to have the match-up take place in the fall of 2017, according to Golden Boy chairman Oscar De La Hoya. Golovkin, 34, will be a year older and possibly on the back nine of his athletic peak and Alvarez, 25, will have a chance to get his feet wet at middleweight after never fighting above 155 pounds.

De La Hoya laid out the circumstances Wednesday night on Twitter, describing a meeting that took place at Golden Boy’s offices in Los Angeles with Loeffler.

“On Tuesday, Tom Loeffler came to @GoldenBoyBoxing’s offices and we agreed that the mega fight between @canelo and GGG would occur next fall”, he wrote.

The public’s trust in that statement is likely to be faint after the sides engaged in what now seems like halfhearted discussions for a possible fight later this year only to change course. Alvarez sounded sincere about facing Golovkin after he vacated the title when he said on May 19, “After much consideration, I instructed my team at Golden Boy Promotions to continue negotiating a fight with Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin and to finalize a deal as quickly as possible.”

Those words sound hollow, given Wednesday’s events. While Golovkin has always been publicly eager to face Alvarez, it’s obvious that Alvarez’s side doesn’t share the same enthusiasm, given the request to push the fight back until 2017. A rival promoter cast doubt on the fight ever happening, pointing out the problems with the verbal agreement: There is no contractual obligation binding the deal for Alvarez and WBC, IBF, WBA middleweight champion Golovkin to fight in the fall of 2017. What’s to keep the fight from happening besides the assurances of both fighters?

Golovkin was Alvarez’s WBC mandatory after Alvarez won the title from Miguel Cotto on Nov. 21. Alvarez and Golden Boy worked out a deal with Loeffler and the WBC for both fighters to have interim fights before they meet. It’s anyone’s guess how many fights they will have before the match actually comes to fruition.

With the super fight off in the distance, Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 knockouts) will go back to looking for another opponent, likely at junior middleweight for Sept. 17, while Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) will do the same, with England’s Chris Eubank (22-1, 17 KOs) a possibility for the fall. Officials from Golden Boy, as well as Loeffler, didn’t immediately return calls for comment.