Gomez: I can prove Canelo is bigger draw than Golovkin

By Boxing News - 09/24/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez wants unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler that they are the B-side in the equation for a fight against Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez if that fight takes place.

Gomez wants Golovkin and Loeffler to know that they don’t draw as well as Canelo, and because of that, he’s not on board with them getting a percentage split of the revenue for a mega-fight beaten the two middleweights.

Taking a flat fee would result in Golovkin making a lot less than he would if he can get a percentage deal. Gomez obviously knows that, which is why he keeps pushing HARD to get Golovkin and Loeffler to agree to the flat fee lump sum. If they can get Golovkin on the cheap, they’ll make untold riches from the fight off his name. Canelo will walk away with Floyd Mayweather Jr. type of money from the fight, whereas Golovkin will arguably be shortchanged.

The offer from Golden Boy to Golovkin is supposedly $12 million with a percentage split of the pay-per-view. That’s not a lot of money for a fight that could pull in more than 2 million buys on HBO pay-per-view with many of the buys coming from Golovkin’s fans. If you figure that Canelo usually brings in around 300,000 pay-per-view buys when facing no name fighters that have no business fighting him on HBO PPV, then whatever buys that are above the 300K figure are directly because of Golovkin.

That means if the fight brings in 2 million or more PPV buys, then it’s because of Golovkin that the fight is bringing in those numbers. Without Golovkin, Canelo is looking at 300,000 buys. That’s why Golovkin deserves a percentage deal, and it’s why if he doesn’t get it, then I don’t believe Canelo and Golden will get the fight. Golovkin’s management isn’t stupid.

They’re not going to just give into Golden Boy and let them take all the money from the fans that Golovkin brings in. If they want to take the lion’s shape of the money from the PPV, then they should continue to fight guys like Liam Smith and Alfredo Angulo.

“I could come up with 10 or 20 points that prove Canelo is … by far the bigger draw,” said Gomez to the latimes.com. “don’t want to negotiate in the media, but if they want to discuss the rest of the points, come over, sit down. We’re serious about making the fight. No excuses to get out of it. We’re willing to make the fight. The notion we’re scared is ridiculous. Call our bluff. We’re ready to make the fight.”

There won’t be a mega-fight between Canelo and Golovkin without Golden Boy agreeing to give Golovkin a percentage split of the revenue. By just giving Golovkin a flat fee offer, they’re showing that they don’t respect what he brings to the table. If that’s the case, then Golovkin’s management needs to put Golden Boy on ignore until they do realize what he brings to the fight in terms of revenue.

Golovkin and Loeffler aren’t pricing themselves out by asking for a percentage deal. They’re only showing that they realize what they bring to the table for this fight. Canelo is a 300K pay-per-view fighter. That’s proven over and over again. The only time Canelo brings in more than that is when he’s facing stars like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Amir Khan and Miguel Cotto. When you take those fighters away, Canelo is a 300K fighter on PPV. Without Golovkin, Canelo will be back to his 300K pay-per-view buys that he’s been getting.

We still don’t know what Canelo’s fight against World Boxing Organization junior middleweight champion Liam Smith brought in from HBO pay-per-view on September 17. Lance Pugmire reported that the numbers his sources are talking about is 250,000 to 310,000 buys. However, there’s now talk that the Canelo-Smith fight brought in even lower numbers in the 200,000 range for the fight.

If that number turns out to be true, then that’s even more of a reason for Golovkin not to agree to the $12 million lump sum offer from Golden Boy, because they would be taking money out of their own pocket if the fight sold out the 80,000 seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and brought in over 2 million buys.

“Take this offer. It’s the most money Golovkin’s ever made,” said Gomez.

There’s a flipside to all of there. By Canelo and Golden Boy giving Golovkin a 55-45 deal, then Canelo will be making the most money he’s ever made, and that’s with him still getting the lion’s share of the money pot. Without Golovkin, Canelo is back getting his 300K pay-per-view fights against guys like Liam Smith and Alfredo Angulo.

Golden Boy is likely going to continue to match Canelo carefully for the remainder of his career by putting him in with guys they feel he can beat like Billy Joe Saunders, David Lemieux, Curtis Stevens, and Willie Monroe Jr. They’re not going to take any chances by putting him in with starts that could potentially beat him like Daniel Jacobs. That’s why Canelo isn’t going to grow with his PPV numbers, because he won’t be fighting big names and guys that could maybe defeat him. Safe match-making has a way of stunting fighter’s careers, and I see that happening with Canelo.

Canelo’s fight against Liam Smith brought in 51,000 fans at the AT&T Stadium last Saturday night in Arlington, Texas. What we don’t know is how many of those boxing fans were GIVEN tickets rather than having purchased them to get into the fight.

You have to figure that a certain percentage of the tickets were free complimentary tickets given to the fans to help pump up the numbers. It helps Canelo by having a large crowd in attendance, because Golden Boy can use the attendance numbers to get a bigger slice of the revenue for future fights like the Golovkin match. What can’t be fiddled with is the pay-per-view numbers. You can’t just give PPV buys to fans. They have to buy the fight, and HBO is the one responsible for keeping track of it all.

We’ve seen Canelo’s PPV numbers take a dive recently due to the soft match-making by Golden Boy with them matching him against Liam Smith and Amir Khan. Those are fights should have never happened. You could guess right away that boxing fans wouldn’t be interested in seeing Canelo fight a welterweight like Khan and an obscure paper champion like Liam Smith.

Golden Boy should have matched Canelo against Daniel Jacobs, Golovkin, Julian Williams, David Lemieux, Demetrius Andrade, Erislandy Lara or Sergey Kovalev. They have put Canelo in with the Charlo brothers. All of those would have been competitive fights. Kovalev is a light heavyweight, but he’s not much heavier than Canelo.

It wouldn’t be surprising if only 10 pounds separates Kovalev and Canelo after the two fighters rehydrate for their fights. The soft match-making by Golden Boy has stunted Canelo’s popularity at a time when it should be growing instead of diminishing.

Yes, Canelo has won all his fights since his loss to Mayweather in 2013, but he’s done it largely by facing weaker and/or smaller/older fighters. You can argue that the only good fighter that Canelo has fought since the Mayweather fight is Erislandy Lara, who appeared to do enough to win the fight against him but wasn’t given the decision win.