Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has started training for his possible showdown with World Boxing Council middleweight champion Miguel Cotto later this year.

Eddy Reynoso, Canelo's manager, told BoxingScene that Alvarez is already working out every morning to keep himself in shape for his next fight.

According to Reynoso, Alvarez just took a two-week rest after scoring a third-round knockout win against James Kirkland on May 9 and immediately started running in the morning followed by light workout in the gym.

While the fight is not yet finalized, Reynoso expressed optimism that a deal will be reached soon. He said they will likely sit down with Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya next week to discuss possible terms of the WBC middleweight title showdown.

"We hope to meet with De La Hoya next week. On our side we've already done our medical tests and everything was excellent," Reynoso said. "We also began to work in the morning."

Alvarez and Cotto are being linked to a super fight since late last year, but previous negotiations for the fight did not come to fruition. Last year, Alvarez reportedly offered a guaranteed $10 million purse to Cotto, but the Puerto Rican world champion declined to take the offer.

Another negotiation took place in December last year, but Alvarez and his camp eventually pulled out of the talks after not getting a commitment from Cotto after several weeks of discussions.

While Reynoso is hoping that the fight will finally happen this year, he also revealed that they have other options in case the current negotiation goes down again.

"Saul has several options, but the fight with Cotto would be very beautiful," Reynoso said. "Hopefully we can secure that confrontation. That fight would be ideal. But, just in case we have plans B and C."

World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman recently called out both fighters to set aside their personal interests to give boxing fans the fight that they are asking for.

But based on what he is hearing about the negotiations, Sulaiman also expressed confidence that the fight will eventually happen later this year. He also revealed that mandatory challenger Gennady Golovkin is willing to step aside and let the Cotto-Alvarez fight happen before going for the WBC middleweight title.

"That fight has been discussed for over a year and they are close to reaching an agreement, of course with the support of Gennady Golovkin," Sulaiman told ESPN Deportes via BoxingScene. "Cotto looked tremendous, Canelo also looked tremendous, that fight is going to happen this year, and it is up to the promoters."

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