Canelo Alvarez will face Amir Khan on May 7 for WBC middleweight title

Canelo Alvarez won't be fighting Gennady Golovkin next, the fight that is one of the best bouts that could be made in boxing, but fans got something of a consolation prize on Tuesday.

Golden Boy Promotions announced that Alvarez, who won the WBC middleweight title in November when he defeated Miguel Cotto, will defend his belt against Amir Khan on May 7 on HBO Pay-Per-View in the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Khan, who has been fighting at welterweight, had been rebuffed in bids to land big fights against Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. He agreed to move up in weight to face Alvarez in a bout which will have a contractual weight limit of 155 pounds.

The middleweight limit is 160, but the fighters agreed by contract to fight at the lower weight.

"As the middleweight champion of the world, I will take on the best fighters in the sport and on Cinco De Mayo weekend, I look forward to making the first defense of my titles," Alvarez said. "Amir was a decorated amateur, a two-time world champion and is in the prime of his career. Fans are in for a great fight."

After defeating Cotto to win the WBC belt in an impressive performance in November, Alvarez seemed on a collision course with Golovkin, who holds the IBF, WBA and interim WBC belts. The WBC had mandated that the Cotto-Alvarez winner would have to face Golovkin, but then WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman changed his mind.

That meant that instead of the two popular middleweights fighting in May, they'd each take interim opponents, with the stated goal of fighting in September.

Golovkin still does not have an opponent, though he is looking to fight on April 23. His team explored the possibility of facing former champion Bernard Hopkins, but a name to watch is Dominic Wade, who is ranked No. 2 in the IBF. Since No. 1 Tureano Johnson is unable to fight because of injury, the IBF made Wade the mandatory for its belt.

But Alvarez is now locked in for his fight in what will be the first defense of his title. It's a big win for Khan, who had been rebuffed by Mayweather and Pacquiao on multiple occasions.

Khan will enter the fight on nearly a full year's absence from the ring. He defeated Chris Algieri on May 29, 2015, in Brooklyn, then sat out while his team negotiated a fight with Pacquiao. But Top Rank, Pacquiao's promoter, chose Timothy Bradley, and those two will fight April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

So even though he'll jump up in weight, the match with Alvarez will provide the kind of high-profile bout that Khan has sought.

"I know Canelo fights the best and wouldn't pass up the opportunity to face me like others have," Khan said. "My goal is to always fight the biggest names and the best fighters. That is why I'm excited for this fight."

The interesting thing about Khan's selection is that he is under contract with Al Haymon, the creator of the Premier Boxing Champions. Golden Boy Promotions, which is the sole promoter of the May 7 card, has filed a federal anti-trust lawsuit against Haymon.

A Golden Boy source said that the deal was negotiated directly with Khan and his father and without the involvement of Haymon. There is, the source said, the possibility that Khan could work with Golden Boy again in the future after the Alvarez fight.

PBC spokesman Tim Smith said that while Haymon did not speak directly with Golden Boy, he was involved in the process.

"Al was involved in everything from the Amir Khan side from start to finish," Smith said. "Also, Al has been criticized in some places for keeping his fighters as promotional free agents and not having them sign long-term promotional contracts. But this fight is an example of why he has this approach. But not being tied to any one promoter, he's free to take the best possible fight that is available at a given time, regardless of who the promoter may be."