By Ryan Burton

Since All Star Boxing was awarded an 8.5 million dollar judgement against Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33KOs), rumors have been swirling regarding the issue of who the 25-year-old Mexican would face in his next fight.

The Jalisco, Mexico native is locked in to return on September 17th during Mexico's Independence Day weekend. It should be noted that Canelo's team is appealing the verdict, which could be overturned or modified.

Prior to the case going to court, Canelo relinquished his WBC middleweight title which effectively ended any chance of a highly anticipated mega-fight against Gennady "Triple G" Golovkin in 2016. Earlier today K2's Tom Loeffler confirmed to BoxingScene.com's Steve Kim that the earliest the showdown will occur in the fall of 2017.

There has been speculation that Alvarez is looking for the biggest possible purse in the event that he has to pay the judgement and that the retired (for now) former eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao is at the top of his list in what would surely be a box office hit.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum shot down the speculation and said that he believes that Alvarez's next opponent has already been chosen in WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith.

"Nobody from Canelo's team, Oscar, or anyone connected with Oscar has approached us at all about a Canelo fight. As a matter of fact, I will tell you - from what I know - they already have an opponent and that is the English kid, the 154 pound champion (Liam Smith)," Arum told BoxingScene.com before smiling and taking a subtle shot at the selection. "That is a big name in the United States."

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