Canelo Alvarez in talks to face Billy Joe Saunders this December

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If things keep on track, Canelo Alvarez could make his debut at the full middleweight limit by year’s end.

Canelo Alvarez could be ending the year by making a formal entrance into the middleweight division in a title fight against Billy Joe Saunders, as RingTV.com reports. The fight is being targeted for December at a full 160lbs for Saunder’s WBO belt.

Meanwhile, Saunders just might also land himself on the September 17th Canelo-Liam Smith card where he’d be making his 2016 debut while setting up a December fight against Canelo. Eric Gomez of Golden Boy Promotions admits a late 2016 fight against Saunders would help Canelo’s preparation for a late 2017 fight against Gennady Golovkin, but at this point that feels oh-so-far away.

For now, Golden Boy and Frank Warren (who promotes Saunders) have be in talks for weeks, with Warren said to be encouraged with how things are progressing. His fighter Saunders is most recently coming off a majority decision win over Andy Lee last December where he won the WBO middleweight title.