Golden Boy Promotions announced that their prized fighter Saul "Canelo" Alvarez could face Erislandy Lara on July 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions CEO, announced that Alvarez personally picked Lara, the reigning WBA junior middleweight champion. Schaefer pointed out that Canelo wants to silence his critics, who are saying that he is afraid of facing Lara.

 "I think the two best 154-pounders next to Floyd Mayweather - is Lara and Canelo," Schaefer said. "This is the guy Canelo wants to fight. He was very clear. He didn't want to hear other names. There are other names, but the one he really wants is Lara. He feels the fans, the public and the media feel he is afraid of fighting Lara."

Schaefer, who said that the details of the fight is still being finalized, commended Alvarez for facing Lara, who is considered as one of the best boxers in their division.

"Now he wants to fight Lara and my hat goes off to Canelo, for wanting to take on a guy who is no question one of the most dangerous 154-pounders with a deep amateur background as well," Schaefer said. "We are in the final stages of hopefully negotiating that fight and hopefully it will get done."

Lara, who is coming off a lopsided unanimous decision win over Austin Trout in December last year, is scheduled to defend his title against Ishe Smith on May 2 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The scheduled Lara-Smith showdown is now in danger of being called off now that the Alvarez-Lara showdown is close to being finalized with Schaefer saying that they are considering cancelling the fight for Lara to avoid injury or a loss that would hurt his chances of facing Canelo.

"Obviously, as part of the negotiations we would have to evaluate if he is going to be staying in that fight or not. That is all part of the ongoing negotiations," Schaefer said.

The Alvarez-Lara showdown will be a ShowTime Pay-Per-View event. Alvarez generated more than 350,000 PPV buys during his last fight against Alfredo Angulo in March.