Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will remain the sport’s most active top fighter, albeit with an adjustment to his otherwise breakneck schedule.

The four-division and reigning WBC/WBA/WBO super middleweight champion will no longer fight on September 18, instead eyeing a return for later in the year. Alvarez was originally due to appear on the weekend in celebration of Mexican Independence Day, but has yet to score an opponent in time to properly move forward with the event.

“Spoke with Canelo, [Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s head trainer] and the team today,” Eddie Hearn, chairman of Matchroom Sport revealed Friday on social media. “Saul is focused on a return to the ring in November. More news soon.”

Hearn has served as the lead promoter for each of Alvarez’s last three fights and continues to enjoy a working relationship with the Mexican icon.

Alvarez and Reynoso have taken the lead on negotiations for his next fight, which for months was believed to an undisputed super middleweight championship showdown with IBF titlist Caleb Plant (21-0, 12KOs). The two sides were in talks for a proposed fight which was to headline a Fox Sports Pay-Per-View event in September from MGM Grand in Las Vegas. A deal seemed on the verge of being reached, only for talks to fall apart at the 11th hour due to disputes over supplemental matters on which the two sides reached an impasse.

It would have marked the first time Alvarez has fought on Mexico’s most celebrated holiday since defeating then-unbeaten middleweight titlist Gennadiy Golovkin in their September 2018 HBO PPV rematch.

Alvarez lost out on the date in 2019 over a breakdown in a communication regarding talks for a middleweight title defense, instead fighting on November 2 at light heavyweight. A twist was placed on the event, with the bout falling on Dia de los Muertos, a Mexican holiday served to honor family and friends who have since passed on. Alvarez fought and beat Sergey Kovalev to win a light heavyweight title, in a bout that marked his last with Golden Boy Promotions with their relationship having dramatically dissolved in the preceding months.

A massive multimillion-dollar lawsuit followed, filed by Alvarez last September in efforts to break free from the California-based promotional outfit after ten years. The matter was resolved last November, with Alvarez moving forward with his career and forming a relationship with Hearn beginning with his 12-round win over previously unbeaten WBA super middleweight titlist Callum Smith last December at Alamodome in San Antonio.

Alvarez claimed the full version of the WBA belt—having previously held a secondary version—along with claiming the vacant WBC belt in becoming a true four-division major titlist. The bout was his first in 13 months, though quickly making up for lost time in adding two more fights inside of five months.

A third-round knockout of WBC mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim took place this past February at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The bout was the first of a two-fight promotional agreement between Alvarez and Hearn. Just ten weeks later came Alvarez’s most celebrated fight in years, an eighth-round injury stoppage of unbeaten WBO super middleweight titlist Billy Joe Saunders this past May at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The event set the indoor attendance record, producing a live gate of $9,002,920 live from 66,065 tickets sold.

With three belts in tow, Alvarez set his sights on Plant in order to crown the division’s first-ever undisputed champion in the four-belt era. Plant was waiting out Alvarez’s schedule, having lodged his third successful title defense in a 12-round shutout of Caleb Truax in January. Plant has reigned as IBF champ since January 2019, and always with the intention of becoming undisputed champ.

Alvarez was able to beat him to the punch in collecting three belts, with his wins over Smith and Saunders airing live on DAZN which has carried his last six fights. In the event that Alvarez is unable to finalize terms with Plant—or chooses not to revisit—it is likely that he will remain with the over-the-top (OTT) streaming service for his next fight.

A last-ditch effort to salvage the September date came with Alvarez entering talks and nearly finalizing terms with reigning WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol. However, it was ultimately decided that there was too little time left to properly promote a September event.

Should Alvarez return in November, it still gives him four fights in less than a year. The rate of activity comes at a time when most fighters even on the contender level barely fight twice per year. Since the pandemic, nobody else on the current BoxingScene.com pound-for-pound list has fought more than twice dating back to last June. In the period beginning with Alvarez’s win over Smith, none have registered more than one fight.

Of course, moving forward with the November date still leaves Alvarez with the task of closing a deal. A fight with Plant or Bivol will remain just as relevant in November as it would in September—Plant more so, giving the historical implications. With that in mind, Alvavez remains very much on the clock.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox