By Miguel Rivera

According to Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez, WBO junior middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (48-1-1, 34KOs) could very well fight three times in 2017, after the promotional company received confirmation that the injury to his right hand is not that serious.

Canelo suffered the injury last month after knocking out previously undefeated Liam Smith to the capture the WBO belt before a crowd of over 50,000 fans at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The injury ruled out a planned HBO televised return on December 10. With the diagnosis they received on Thursday, Canelo is capable of fighting again in early 2017.

"Canelo and his team came to the office. They went to see Dr. Kenneth R. Sabbag to have a second opinion [on the injury], and the doctor agreed with the doctor who had already checked him out in Mexico. There is no break and therefore he does not require surgery," revealed Gomez to ESPN Deportes.

Canelo will remove the splint that he's worn for the last two or three weeks, and he can once again resume training and see if his hand feels good or bad, and then he will decide whether to fight three times next year because he couldn't fight in December 2016 as expected.

"It is possible to see him fight three times in 2017. The doctor told us that the important thing is that there is no fracture, so he will remove the cast and once he begins to rehabilitate hand we will get a report on how he feels and if there is no pain. You might see him fight the last week of January or early February, and then later on, as mentioned, in May and September," Gomez said.

Canelo has not fought more than twice in a single year since 2011. From 2012 to 2016, he's only fought twice a year - including six pay-per-view headliners against Floyd Mayweather, Erislandy Lara, Alfredo Angulo, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan and Liam Smith.

Fans are most concerned about the ongoing negotiations to see Canelo face middleweight king Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin next September. The Mexican superstar may jump to the middleweight division in his next fight.