In February 2012 it was announced that Mosley would fight 21 year old, highly regarded light middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Álvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs) on the Mayweather Jr.–Cotto PPV undercard on May 5 for the WBC light middleweight title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mosely entered with a record of 2-3-1 in his previous six bouts dating back to November 2007. At 40, Mosley was 19 years older than Álvarez. Álvarez was guaranteed $2 million whilst Mosley took the smaller amount of $650,000. Among those in attendance were Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Bernard Hopkins, and Oscar De La Hoya.