HOLLYWOOD, Fla. _ The World Boxing Council conventions bear a strong resemblance to baseball's winter meetings: Deals, rumors and opinions are easy to find.
Boxing's major power brokers have gathered here, huddling in meeting rooms, chatting over drinks or finding a quiet corner in the hotel lobby to share a valuable piece of information.
"Because of the relaxed atmosphere, it breaks down walls. You talk to people you usually don't get a chance to talk to," said Los Angeles-based promoter Tom Brown, whose company stages fights for powerful manager Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions. "You say hi, and you never know, you might be able to make a deal."
The hottest speculation is how intense the talks are to stage a fight in May between Mexico's two most popular fighters, Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy, the promotional company that represents Alvarez, told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that talks heated up after Chavez looked good in a Saturday bout in Mexico.
"We've been talking, it's a real possibility and we hope we can get it done. There's interest on both sides," Gomez said.
"I know it'll be an explosive fight. As a Mexican-American, I'm proud because it's the two biggest names in Mexico _ the two best fighters from Mexico at the moment _ and whenever the two top Mexicans fight each other, it's a huge event."
In part, the talks will center on Chavez's ability to drop his weight closer to the middleweight limit of 160 pounds, after a checkered history of weight problems.
For fight-of-the-year participant Orlando Salido of Mexico, the convention is a chance to collect his award, greet legend Roberto Duran and assess his chance for a rematch in early 2017 against super-featherweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko.
"I think my fight can get done. It economically has to be right for everyone," Salido said. "I deserve to be paid correctly. I believe it will be fine for the fighters, the promoters and for HBO."
One fight that makes sense for later in 2017 is a featherweight meeting between unbeaten World Boxing Organization featherweight champion Oscar Valdez and Abner Mares, who recaptured his World Boxing Association featherweight title Saturday.
Promoter Brown and another veteran fight man, Carl Moretti of Top Rank, engaged in easier conversations than have their often-feuding bosses Haymon and Bob Arum, who represent Mares and Valdez, respectively.
"You don't toss away relationships because the business has splintered," Moretti said. "At the end of the day, we're all here to make fights that make sense."
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman sought to deal with the varying agendas in the conference room by revealing mandatory opponents for champions, along with other rulings.
Sulaiman bought Moretti's argument that WBC junior-welterweight champion Terence Crawford should be allowed to bypass his mandatory bout because of a possible "super-fight" in the spring, which means Crawford is the front-runner to fight Manny Pacquiao should Floyd Mayweather Jr. remain retired.
Sulaiman also relieved three-belt middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin of an immediate mandatory fight by creating a four-fighter tournament of contenders, which displeased the manager of No. 1-ranked Argentine Jorge Sebastian Heiland.
The ruling allows Golovkin to proceed toward an anticipated September showdown against Alvarez without the burden of being stripped of a belt.
"Please trust the WBC," Sulaiman told Heiland's manager. "This decision is best for your kid."
