‘Canelo’ Alvarez returning to HBO in ‘multifight, multiyear’ deal

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will return to HBO, Golden Boy Promotions will announce Tuesday morning.

The opponent, date and site for Alvarez’s next bout have yet to be fully negotiated. Former welterweight world champion Joshua Clottey is the front-runner, with heavy-punching James Kirkland an outsider after originally pricing himself too high.

Houston’s Minute Maid Park or Reliant Stadium on Dec. 6 or San Antonio’s Alamodome on Dec. 13 are the sites in discussion.

Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 knockouts) has fought his last five bouts on Showtime, including the most lucrative pay-per-view event in history when he dropped a majority decision to unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013.

He also claimed a breakthrough victory on Showtime, beating then light-middleweight champion Austin Trout by unanimous decision in San Antonio in April 2013.

Yet, reflecting a new direction since he reassumed full leadership of his company earlier this year from resigned Chief Executive Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya has turned another major fighter away from Showtime.

Alvarez, 23, never met with representatives from either network, but personally approved HBO’s “multifight, multiyear” offer, according to a boxing official unauthorized to provide details of the package.

“I’m thrilled to be part of this historic agreement between ‘Canelo’ Álvarez and HBO Sports, an agreement that marks another major step in Golden Boy Promotions’ primary goal -- to give boxing fans the fights they want to see,” De La Hoya said in a prepared statement. “‘Canelo’ is the best young fighter in the sport, and this move will help line him up to fight top opponents in the sport for many years to come.”

Alvarez’s most recent bout on HBO was in May 2012, when he defeated Shane Mosley in the co-main event under Mayweather’s victory over Miguel Cotto.

Soon after that, HBO and Golden Boy took a hiatus from each other as a slew of big-name fighters, led by Mayweather, left HBO for Showtime, lured by network vice president Stephen Espinoza.

Espinoza, a former Golden Boy attorney, formed a tighter bond with Schaefer than with De La Hoya during their continued talks. Since taking over, De La Hoya has pushed to chart his own path.

First, earlier this year, Golden Boy fighter Bernard Hopkins shunned a Showtime date against a light-heavyweight champion, Adonis Stevenson, in favor of a Nov. 8 bout in Atlantic City, N.J., against another belt-holder, unbeaten Sergey Kovalev, on HBO.

Now, after surpassing 325,000 buys in victories over nondescript foes Alfredo Angulo and Erislandy Lara, Alvarez has defected to HBO.

An Alvarez victory in December would set up a greater pay-per-view bout tentatively planned for May versus middleweight world champion Cotto.

Clottey (38-4, 22 knockouts) is coming off three consecutive victories, including an April triumph by decision in Australia over Anthony Mundine.

Yet, his last major fight on a grand stage was a dud, when he covered his head in a shell of arms and was dominated by Manny Pacquiao in March 2010 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas.

A boxing official close to negotiations said Clottey has set a far lower price than the entertaining slugger Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs), who has five straight wins, including his most recent December 2013 beatdown of Glen Tapia in Atlantic City. Kirkland is close to finalizing a deal to fight Gabriel Rosado on the co-main event of Hopkins-Kovalev.