Trainers for Canelo Alvarez, Amir Khan don’t pull any punches

Reporting from Las Vegas —  The trainers for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Amir Khan had no filters when meeting with reporters on Thursday.

Alvarez’s trainer, Eddy Reynoso, found himself dealing with the fallout over Wednesday comments by his fighter that even though unbeaten Gennady Golovkin is the mandatory challenger to Alvarez’s World Boxing Council belt, Golovkin “needs to work his way up, he needs to earn his shot,” according to Alvarez.

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has maintained Alvarez will either have to begin negotiations to fight Golovkin 15 days after an expected victory over Khan or he’ll be stripped of the belt, with Golovkin adding it to his World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation middleweight titles.

Yet, when someone asked Reynoso if Alvarez’s next fight will be at middleweight, the trainer said, “No, not at all. Maybe in two or three fights. But now? Not at all.”

Alvarez is fighting Khan at a 155-pound catchweight that’s five pounds below the 160-pound middleweight limit that Golovkin and his trainer, Abel Sanchez, have said they are not willing (at this point) to budge from in spite of Alvarez’s popularity generating likely massive pay-per-view sales at a major venue like Cowboys Stadium in the fall.

Reynoso was then asked if he believed Golovkin was a difficult fight.

“We’re ready to fight everyone,” he said. “It’s not a difficult fight. It’s a hard fight to make, yes, but the fight itself is not difficult because [Golovkin] comes forward.”

While Alvarez’s November victory over former four-division champion Miguel Cotto generated 900,000 buys, Golovkin’s technical knockout of David Lemieux at a sold-out Madison Square Garden had less than 150,000 buys on HBO.

“The numbers say it all,” Reynoso said. “Golovkin is a very good fighter … his numbers didn’t generate.”

Khan’s trainer Virgil Hunter delivered some criticism right back to Alvarez, chiding him for maintaining that even though Saturday’s HBO pay-per-view bout at T-Mobile Arena is at 155 pounds, Alvarez “is a middleweight, I don’t care what anyone says.

“Print it like it is. It’s sad. The man got the belt, don’t he? He’s a middleweight. Saturday night, they’ll say, ‘For the middleweight championship of the world….’ He’s a -- middleweight! Excuse my language, kids.”

Hunter, coming off his fighter Andre Berto’s Saturday victory over Victor Ortiz at StubHub Center, said Khan is comfortable at his weight after moving up from welterweight for the ‘Canelo’ challenge.

“He can eat, he doesn’t have to cut that weight,” Hunter said. “Next to tying someone up in a closet, the next thing in human cruelty is depriving a person who has to work out of the necessary calories. That naturally makes people unhappy.”

Khan also is positioned as the No. 1 contender to WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia, who knocked Khan out in the fourth round in 2012.

So desperation’s not in play.

“This fight is not going to affect the rest of his career,” Hunter said. “He’s not supposed to win. Show me one article saying he’s supposed to win. He has nothing to lose.

“Nobody can dispute what Amir has done going up to middleweight. He’s been looking for a big fight. He’s looking for a challenge. That’s him saying, ‘I wonder how good I really am?’ The great athletes do that. That’s why LeBron [James] in high school … go to Chicago to play with the pros. [Khan] wants to put himself in a very dangerous situation and find out.

“It’s rare in this sport, very rare, but all fighters should do it.”

Hunter grew a bit playful, laughing in delight when considering the options before Khan with a victory.

“Yeah, if we win, we’ll fight Golovkin,” he said, chuckling.

Follow Lance Pugmire on Twitter: @latimespugmire