Billy Joe Saunders isn’t the leading candidate to fight Canelo Alvarez on May 2, according to Alvarez’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya.

Saunders, a 168-pound titleholder had been rumored to be Alvarez’s first choice for his next fight.

De La Hoya was talking about Alvarez’s immediate plans during a SecondsOut video interview when he squelched the rumor.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” he said. “Saunders is not the front runner, that’s for sure. I have no idea who threw that name out there. But once we nail down who it’s going to be, we’ll make an announcement shortly

“I have a trip to Mexico with Canelo and his team [scheduled}. We’ll sit down, I’ll stay there a few days, iron out a deal and take it from there.”

Saunders has been considered a leading candidate for several reasons. One, everyone seems to agree that 168 pounds would be the best weight for him. And Saunders is one of the four super middleweight titleholders.

A fight with Saunders and Callum Smith, another beltholder, would be the easiest fights to make. David Benavidez and Caleb Plant also hold 168-pound titles but they fight for rival Premier Boxing Champions, which would make negotiations complicated.

Another option would be a move back down to 160, although De La Hoya doesn’t seem to be keen on that idea.

“Just because of experience, going up to 160 and coming back to 147, maybe it would be a little difficult for him. But he has the option.”

Alvarez hasn’t fought at 160 since he defeated Gennadiy Golovkin by a majority decision in September 2018.

In his last fight, Alvarez stopped Sergey Kovalev to win a title at 175 pounds. He gave up the title shortly afterward, an indication that he has no plans to fight at light heavyweight.