By Keith Idec

They changed their minds.

Without uttering those exact words, that’s essentially how Oscar De La Hoya explained Wednesday the decision for Canelo Alvarez to face Liam Smith in his next fight instead of Gennady Golovkin.

In the immediate aftermath of his sensational knockout victory over Amir Khan on May 7 in Las Vegas, Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) demonstratively proclaimed he would fight Golovkin next. Alvarez also said he’d challenge the Kazakh knockout artist at the middleweight limit of 160 pounds, not at a lower catch weight.

Six weeks later, a deal was finalized for the Mexican superstar to move down one pound, from 155 to 154, to challenge England’s Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) for his WBO world super welterweight title September 17 at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. According to De La Hoya, tickets to the card headlined by Alvarez-Smith are selling very well.

Nevertheless, the Alvarez-Smith match has been met with harsh criticism from media and frustrated fans on social media, particularly because it’ll be televised via pay-per-view.

De La Hoya, whose company promotes Alvarez, didn’t offer any specifics during a conference call Wednesday as to what changed from the time early in May when he discussed the Golovkin fight with Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promotional representative, and when Team Alvarez decided to fight Smith.

“Well, basically, it’s the team’s decision,” De La Hoya said. “You know? Canelo knows his body. His trainers know his body. And the bottom line is Canelo’s a 154-pound fighter. The fact that he fought at 155, people expect him to go up and fight at middleweight. And that’s not the case. He’s a 54-pounder. And he’s gonna go up to 160 when his body feels ready.

“Look, people will always talk and will always want the very best when you are on top of the world. And that’s what Canelo is right now. He’s on top of the … he is the star fighter in boxing and people want him to fight the very best. And he has always fought the very best. And fighting a Golovkin is gonna be no exception. He’s gonna fight him, but when he’s ready to move up to 160.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.