The road to Triple G begins in September for Canelo Alvarez. The Mexican boxer won't fight Gennady Golovkin until next fall, and the first step will be a bout with WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith on September 17th.
Golden Boy confirmed the bout with a press release yesterday.
Alvarez (47-1-1, 34 KO) is technically dropping down a division for the fight, but that's kind of a copout - he fought for middleweight titles at a catchweight of 155 pounds. The junior middleweight limit is 154 pounds. He is coming off of a huge knockout of undersized Amir Khan in May.
Smith (23-0-1, 13 KO) is a British hard hitter from a fighting family - his three brothers (Paul, Stephen, and Callum) are also professional boxers. The 27-year-old picked up the WBO belt late last year with a knockout win over John Thompson, and has defended it twice since. He has never fought outside of England before though, and is more known as being a part of the family than being a standout on his own.
Basically, this is Golden Boy's way of having Canelo collect a belt or two on their way to the Golovkin matchup. I doubt this does very well on PPV, but it'll likely keep Alvarez safe for a while longer - and that much closer to the Golovkin fight.