By Jose Luis Camarillo, notifight.com

The recovery of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has exceeded the most optimistic estimates, according to the fighter's trainer Eddy Reynoso.

Canelo (48-1-1, 34KOs) injured his right hand last month during his ninth round knockout of Liam Smith to capture the WBO junior middleweight title.

Based on a recent meeting with Golden Boy Promotions, Reynoso says there is a possibility that Canelo could return in the second week of February 2017. Canelo, who fought in May when he knocked out Amir Khan, was scheduled to fight for a third time as part of an HBO televised card on December 10th. The hand injury forced him to push back his booked return to next year.

The goal, says Reynoso, is to stage three fights next year. Canelo is already planning to fight in May on Cinco De Mayo weekend and in September as part of Mexican Independence Day weekend.

Canelo and his team will soon head to Puerto Rico to pick up the WBO junior middleweight title at the World Boxing Organization's ongoing convention.

"His hand is doing very well, I think he is recovering in an excellent way. We're going [to Puerto Rico to] pick up the WBO junior middleweight championship. We are going on the 19th of October and returning on the 21st."

As far as the weight for his next fight, they are looking at the possibility of heading up to the middleweight limit of 160-pounds, but want to test the waters first.

"We are going to think about [the idea of] going to 160-pounds, although it's possibly that we'll do it at 158?-pounds just to see how he feels," Reynoso said.

Canelo is already getting back to work, but not doing anything too strenuous due to the hand.

"In the morning he runs. After he removes the splint in two weeks, he will begin to start working in the gym, he'll start shadow boxing, working the legs, waist, and now after the last week of November he will be able to hit. We thought it would be a more serious injury [to his right hand]," Reynoso said.