By Jake Donovan

The highly anticipated World middleweight championship fight (catchweight notwithstanding) between Miguel Cotto and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez continues to inch closer to reality. A deal is expected to be announced within the next week, but is all but set to land on November 21 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Representatives from both sides declined comment until all matters are signed off and made official, but locations in New York—where Cotto originally preferred for the superfight to take place—have been ruled out.

The fight will take place at a maximum catchweight of 155 lbs.—a weight that benefits both principles, given they are closer to being truer junior middleweights than full-fledged middleweights.

Any lingering details left on the table are miniscule. Speculation—although to which nobody involved will admit, or insist is the case—is that the fight announcement remains on hold until World welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather confirms his plans for a planned September 12 date at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Recent rumors had Mayweather flirting with the idea of fighting on free-to-air CBS, a move that would've freed up September 19 should HBO want to use the date to roll out its fall schedule.

However, such a move has been ruled bout by Mayweather's camp, with his fight more than likely to air on Showtime PPV. Traditionally, both Showtime and HBO run exclusive replays one week later, which would make it risky business for HBO to eye a September 19 date for its schedule, instead likely not kicking off its fall season until October 3.

Once finalized, Cotto vs. Alvarez will make the second significant middleweight fight to headline an HBO PPV event. Unbeaten knockout artist Gennady Golovkin recently landed a long-sought unification bout—and by that, it's meant as his facing any other middleweight titlist—as he clashes with Canadian flamethrower David Lemieux on October 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Golovkin is a heavy favorite to win, but is still risking a guaranteed crack at the winner of Cotto-Alvarez, a condition agreed upon by all parties in order for the latter to become an eventual reality. In addition to serving as the reigning WBA and IBO titlist, Golovkin is the mandatory challenger to the WBC title, which Cotto owns along with the World lineal championship. Both were acquired in a shockingly one-sided stoppage win of Sergio Martinez last June in New York City.

Cotto has made one successful defense, which came this past June - exactly 52 weeks after winning the crown - as he stormed through former titlist Daniel Geale inside of four rounds at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The bout came one month after Alvarez did his part to enhance such a showdown, delivering a savage 3rd round knockout of James Kirkland in front of more than 30,000 fans at Minute Maid Park in Houston this past May.

Alvarez' win over Kirkland marked his first fight back on HBO since having his services taken to Showtime in 2012, fighting five times across the street until signing a long-term deal with HBO last September. The first fight under the contract was to come last December, only for Alvarez to suffer an untimely injury that forced him to withdraw from a planned showdown with former welterweight titlist Joshua Clottey.

The fight never resurfaced, with Alvarez instead focusing his energy on a showdown with Cotto. The two sides dragged out talks for what was targeted to land as a pre-Cinco de Mayo event, only for Cotto to decide to take his career in a different direction. The move led to his severing ties with Top Rank—with whom he had reconciled in 2013 following a two-fight departure after an 11-year relationship dating back to his pro debut in 2001—and signing a long-term deal with Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports.

The aforementioned knockout win over Geale was Cotto's first fight under the Roc Nation banner, although he has done additional business with RNS through Miguel Cotto Promotions in promoting events in his native Puerto Rico.

Once this fight is officially all the way on board, it will serve as by far the biggest event involving Roc Nation since entering the boxing business a year ago.

A formal announcement is expected by no later than the first week of August, giving all parties a solid three months to properly promote the event. Such plans will include a multi-city press tour, with dates and locations to be announced along with the fight itself.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox