By Osiris Mendez, notifight.com

World Boxing Council Mauricio Sulaimán acknowledged that he was taken by surprise, when Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez announced that he wouldn't return to the ring in September.

For the last three years, Canelo has fought in September during Mexican Independence Day weekend.

Canelo and his handlers were unable to secure a suitable opponent and made a team decision to delay his return to a later date in the year.

Traditionally, for the big fight taking place during Mexican Independence Day weekend, the World Boxing Council would issue the commemorative WBC Huichol belt to the winner of the main event.

The Huichol title, also known as the Adolfo López Mateos belt, has been in play during Mexican national holidays since May 2017.

There are other fights being kicked around for September 14, but Sulaiman is not sure if any of those bouts will have this commemorative belt at stake.

"On September 14, it was projected that Canelo would defend his title, but that won't happen. We are waiting to find out which high ranking fight is taking place, and it doesn't matter what title is at stake, so we can determine if we are going to sanction this [Huichol] belt," said Sulaiman said.

"There are some names that would be considered, (Jaime) Munguía, (Tyson) Fury, an important women's fight that is also out there.. we are waiting for some of those fights to be finalized.

"Canelo is the elite boxer at the moment, especially for these dates of May and September in the United States. There are other high quality boxers, such as Pacquiao, Wilder, Andy Ruiz, and there are also Mexican fighters at a high level, but the issue is that everyone expected Canelo to fight on that date and nobody took [a step to scheduled something else on the same date], because competing with Canelo would be crazy. Nobody programmed another big event on that date and now it is difficult to schedule a big fight," Sulaiman said.

"If there is no fight [where the title could be at stake], I think we would save [the Huichol belt] for a museum or a special prize."