Canelo-Golovkin: Stop Marinating

By Boxing News - 09/30/2016 - Comments

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By Earl E: I write this article because of the endless articles and comments blasting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for not making a fight against Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Like any other boxing fan, I too would like to see this fight. However, by continuously writing or talking about Alvarez. And, engaging in debates about who is the better fighter, predicting who will win, etc., falls you and I into the Promoter’s trap.

The Promoter wants you to be angry and inpatient that the fight is not instantly happening. And, while doing this, the Promoter’s strategy of marinating the fight is working. When the fight will actually happen, even years down the road, you will pay the high Pay Per View (PPV), simply because you can’t believe it’s finally happening. Come on people, we have seen this strategy before. It’s obviously not the first time, but a blueprint step by step copycat of the pseudo mega-fight.

If you really want to see the fight happen, I encourage you to stop paying for Alvarez’s PPV fights. Take it a step further and stop talking or writing about him making him irrelevant. This forces the Promoter to engage Golovkin to really make the fight happen now.

If the Pay Per View (PPV) numbers are correct, then the recent fight against Liam Smith is a 50% reduction from the Amir Kahn fight. The fight against Kahn reportedly generated 600 PPV while the fight against Smith was 300 PPV. I predict the Promoter will match Alvarez with a better known opponent next time, but if the PPV numbers are still around 300 PPV, it makes returning to the negotiating table with Golovkin imminent.

In the entertainment industry, which includes boxing, you make dramatic changes when people stop coming. Stop coming means reduction of ticket sales, and also people stop talking about the talent rendering the talent irrelevant.

In actuality, I don’t blame the Promoter not wanting to invest in the fight. It’s a risky fight for the Promoter, and as a business, the Promoter thinks long-term. The Promoter continues to make money matching Alvarez against less risky opponents. Yet, still generates enough attention, whether negative or positive, to keep Alvarez relevant. In this site, Alvarez gets a lot of negative attention, but nonetheless it’s still attention.

If you want the fight, then stop talking and writing about it. Let’s all move on to fights that are happening and didn’t need much marinating to get done, such as Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev or Vasyl Lomachenko vs Nicholas Walters.