Canelo says Pacquiao fight can happen after Amir Khan

By Boxing News - 04/26/2016 - Comments

canelo6463By Dan Ambroe: WBC middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez says a fight against Manny Pacquiao can take place later this year. He says it’s a rumor right now, but a fight that could still take place. A fight against Pacquiao would get Canelo off the hook for having to fight his WBC mandatory challenger Gennady GGG Golovkin in late 2016.

If Canelo’s wily promoter Oscar De La Hoya can set him up with a fight against Pacquiao, the fans would take the heat off of Canelo for the Golovkin fight and rally around him for a much bigger fight against the 37-year-old Pacquiao. That would be a huge fight. Canelo would easily get the biggest payday of his career even if the fight doesn’t bring in the 2.2 million PPV buys that his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. brought in back in 2013.

Canelo will get a bigger cut of the revenue than he did in the Mayweather fight. For Pacquiao, it’s unclear if the fight would be worth it to. He’s been getting huge guarantees for his fights of $20 million.

I’m not sure how much Top Rank is going to be able to bump his money up from what he’s already been getting. It might not be worth it for Pacquiao to take the Canelo fight unless he can get a huge bump up in money, and he might not be able to get a big enough bump up to make it worthwhile. You have to remember that Pacquiao’s promoter and team get a cut of his earnings and there might not be enough money brought in for a Pacquiao-Canelo fight to make it worthwhile for Pacquiao to come back for such a dangerous fight. This isn’t Juan Manuel Marquez that Pacquiao would be fighting. This would be a large middleweight in Canelo, who rehydrates into the 170s for his fights.

“It’s just a rumor right now,” said Canelo about a fight against Pacquiao later this year. “It’s a fight that can happen. I’m concentrating 100 percent on Amir Khan. It’s a fight that people can talk about [Canelo vs. Pacquiao]. I’m concentrating on Amir Khan,” said Canelo.

Arum would likely make the fight against Canelo in a heartbeat if Pacquiao chooses to return to the ring. But the revenue split would make it a hard fight to put together. Pacuqiao is used to getting the bigger split against his opponents with the exception of Mayweather. If Canelo asks for a 50-50 deal, then it’s going to be hard for Pacquiao to make enough money off the fight to make it worth the risk. You have to realize that Pacquiao will likely be giving away over 20 pounds in weight to the 170+ pound Canelo.

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If Pacquiao is the one talking all the risks by fighting a much bigger guy, then it’s not going to be worth it for him if all he’s going to get is $20 million like he normally gets. With Canelo likely asking for parity in the revenue split, there’s not likely going to be enough money left over for Pacquiao to make more than what he normally gets. If it comes down to money for Pacquiao rather than legacy, then I see him not taking the fight against Canelo unless he gets a big enough slice of the pie to make it worthwhile for him. I could see Pacquiao agreeing to face Canelo if he can get a 70-30, 65-35 or possibly 60-40 cut of the revenue. Anything less than those figures would make it too small of a bump up in pay for Pacquiao to get much from the fight other than a lot of lumps from a guy that is as big as Gennady Golovkin.

Canelo needs to focus on the fight in front of him on May 7 against Amir Khan. That’s not going to be an easy one for Canelo if he can’t score an early knockout. If Khan is still around by the 8th round Canelo could be in for a real clowning in that fight. Khan has the hand speed to give the 5-year-old Canelo fits. If Khan gets comfortable in there, he could make Canelo look as bad as Mayweather did. All Mayweather did was jab and move a little and he had Canelo looking as helpless as a baby in the ring.