Canelo Alvarez to fight at AT&T Stadium on Sept. 17

Canelo Alvarez’s next bout will be one in which the venue is the big star. Alvarez will meet Liam “Beefy” Smith in the main event of an HBO Pay-Per-View card Sept. 17 at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. They will fight for the WBO junior middleweight belt.

It will be only the third boxing match in the massive venue. It hosted a pair of Manny Pacquiao bouts in 2010, against Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito.

Alvarez and Smith will hold a two-city press tour, beginning today in Texas. On Wednesday, they’ll meet the media in London.

Most fans had hoped that Alvarez would be fighting Gennady Golovkin for the middleweight title on this date instead of the unbeaten but largely unknown and untested Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs). Alvarez remains the linear middleweight champion by virtue of his win over Miguel Cotto last year, but he dropped the WBC belt rather than fight Golovkin and will meet at 154 pounds.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit a charity of the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit in honor of the victims of the recent shootings there.

Tickets range from $40 to $750 and go on sale Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.

No undercard bouts for the pay-per-view have been announced.