By Dan Ambrose: The May 4th fight between WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) and WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) is not a done deal, according to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer. He has three other opponents that he’s considering for Canelo on that date in addition to Trout, according to Steve Kim.
Schaefer told ESPN “It is not done, it is not signed. There are other possibilities we are looking at for Canelo.”
Trout is still the leading guy, but it looks like Schaefer has some other guys available in case the Trout-Canelo fight doesn’t get made. Stephen Espinoza thinks the fight can be made, but there’s obviously something that is holding up the negotiations.
It would be a lucky break for Canelo if the Trout fight doesn’t take place because it might just save him from suffering his first loss of his career. Schaefer hasn’t sounded excited about the Canelo-Trout fight, and you can understand why.
Golden Boy has been so careful with the kinds of opponents they put in with Canelo during his career, often matching him with welterweights instead of junior middleweights, and putting him in with a number of aging way past their best fighters.
Canelo makes good money for them even with him facing less than spectacular opposition. This could probably go on like this for many years without the boxing public grumbling about it. But if Canelo faces Trout on May 4th, there’s a good chance Canelo will get badly beaten and exposed.
Then the question comes into play whether Golden Boy can sell Canelo as a PPV attraction after a bad loss to Trout. I think they can, but it’ll take a little longer, and Canelo will likely have to be put back in a diet of welterweights to build him back up. I think Schaefer wouldn’t be displeased if the Canelo vs. Trout fight doesn’t happen on May 4th because of the risk of Canelo’s money making potential stalling if he gets beaten.
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