Canelo Alvarez sought a second opinion on his fractured right thumb on Wednesday after sustaining the injury in his ninth-round stoppage of Liam Smith last month for a 154-pound title.

Alvarez saw the hand and wrist specialist, Dr. Kenneth R. Sabbag, who confirmed the initial diagnosis of the hand specialist Dr. Pedro Lomeli — an avulsion fracture of the right thumb, a Golden Boy spokesman said. Dr. Lomeli is from Canelo’s home city of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Canelo will not need surgery and is out for the rest of 2016. His hand remains in a cast and it’s unclear when he will return to the ring. “Fighting in the first quarter of 2017 remains an option depending on how things feel after the cast comes off,” Golden Boy spokesman Stefan Friedman wrote in an email on Thursday.

Canelo (48-1-1, 34 knockouts) acknowledged to hurting his hand in the second round of his bout with Smith at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It didn’t stop him from sending Smith to the canvas three times and delivering an impressive performance against an overmatched foe.

Because of the injury, Canelo’s Dec. 10 date on HBO at Madison Square Garden has been scuttled. He could return early 2017 or just wait until May of 2017 to fight on Cinco De Mayo Weekend. No matter what happens, Golden Boy officials have said the injury won’t affect his fall of 2017 date with middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.

Tom Loeffler who promotes Golovkin, told RingTV.com in a text message on Wednesday that “(Golden Boy) is still shooting for Sept. 2017 (for Golovkin-Alvarez) but nothing has been worked out” yet in terms of a signed deal.

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