Schaefer says Canelo-Golovkin should happen

By Boxing News - 10/28/2016 - Comments

schaefer

By Dan Ambrose: Former Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says he would have ABSOLUTELY have made the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin fight by now if he was still the guy controlling the levers at Golden Boy. Schaefer does not understand why the Canelo-Golovkin fight hasn’t been made by now, because he feels that a win for Canelo would take him to the next level in terms of pay-per-view buys.

Schaefer feels that Canelo’s pay-per-view numbers would go from an average of 250,000 that we’re seeing now to over 1 million buys for EVERY fight from that point on. A loss for Canelo to Golovkin wouldn’t hurt the Mexican star, says Schaefer. He thinks Canelo wouldn’t lose fans at all if he got beat by Golovkin, because he’d still be Canelo.

Schaefer thinks Canelo will beat Golovkin. That opinion isn’t echoed by many boxing fans, which see Canelo as not having the stamina needed to fight three minutes of every round. Canelo would need to be able to fight three minutes of every round to beat Golovkin, because he would get bludgeoned by him if he kept retreating to the ropes for rest breaks in each round like he did in his last fight against WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith.

Canelo seems to be only capable of fighting in spurts before needing to go back to the ropes to catch his breath. If Canelo backs up against the ropes against Golovkin, he’s not going to be able to get away from his body and head shots. Canelo would be a sitting duck against Golovkin. It’s good news that Schaefer feels that Golden Boy should make the Canelo-Golovkin fight, but unfortunately he has no say so in the decision making in the company that he no longer works for.

Schaefer doesn’t agree with Golden Boy’s stance that Golvokin only rates a flat fee. Schaefer feels that Golovkin should get a percentage split, and that there should be pay-per-view upside that would kick in for him once the PPV totals reached a certain number. Of course, that might not work in Golovkin’s favor if the fight failed to reach those numbers. In that case, Golovkin could wind up getting less than he deserves for the fight in this writer’s opinion. Unless the percentage split is a healthy one for Golovkin, it’s not going to be worth it for him to take the fight.

“The guy is ready,” said Richard Schaefer to the boxing media about Canelo Alvarez being ready for Triple G. “When he came to me and said, ‘I want to fight [Floyd] Mayweather and I want to fight Austin Trout,’ I didn’t like it. I thought it was too early. ‘You don’t have to fight those kinds of guys.’ He was insisting. He’s the ultimate fighter. He wants to challenge himself against the best, and he realizes how good Golovkin is, and he wants to prove himself for the fans,” said Schaefer.

Of course, Canelo is ready. He’s 26, but he’s more like a fighter in his early 30s in terms of development. I don’t believe that Canelo is getting better despite what some boxing fans believe to be the case. Canelo is now being matched against weaker guys since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. from three years ago. After Golden Boy’s close call with Canelo winning a controversial 12 round decision against Erislandy Lara, Golden Boy has backed Canelo off from fighting the really good fighters. They did put him in with 35-year-old Miguel Cotto, but he’s clearly not in the same league as the top fighters at 160, even though he briefly held the World Boxing Council middleweight title after being 40-year-old Sergio Martinez two years ago. That win only proved that Cotto could be an old guy with a bad knee.

I think a healthy and young Sergio Martinez would have taken Cotto to school and beaten him in an embarrassing fashion. Canelo’s other wins in the last two years have come against James Kirkland, Alfredo Angulo, Amir Khan and Liam Smith. Golden Boy is not matching Canelo against the best fighters at 154 and 160, so you can’t say he’s improving or not improving. I think you can argue that Canelo is the same fighter that lost to Mayweather and won a controversial 12 round decision over Lara. Canelo landed only 31 punches to the head of Lara in the entire fight. Canelo shouldn’t have won that fight in my estimation, but the win showed how it’s almost impossible to beat him by a decision.

When asked if he felt that Canelo should fight Golovkin now, Schaefer said, “Why wait, because you never know. Do the fight now. If Canelo wins, I tell you one thing, he won’t do 250,000 pay-per-views anymore. He’ll take his pay-per-views to the next level. We’re talking 1 million pay-per-views, okay, for anyone he’s going to fight. If he’s going to lose, he’s still Canelo. It’s not going to hurt him. You think it’s going to hurt him if he’s going to lose? I think Canelo will win the fight. You guys are underestimating Canelo, and I think you’re overestimating Golovkin. He can get hit. He’s not like superman. He’s Triple G. He’s not superman! I think Golovkin today is one of the most recognizable names in the sport. Golovkin’s a big name. In this case, it equals well over 1 million homes in pay-per-view,” said Schaefer

It does make all the sense in the world for the Golden Boy to make the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight now. Look at it this way: If Canelo loses the fight, he’ll still remain popular, as long as he fought his heart out for the entire fight. The only way Canelo loses popularity – and pay-per-view buys – is if he does something like takes knees or quits when the going gets tough. With Canelo’s popularity, he would have a huge chance of winning another controversial decision if the fight goes to the cards.

I can’t see Canelo losing a decision to anyone at his time, because he’s too popular. Unfortunately for Canelo, Golovkin doesn’t let judges play a part in his fights. He makes sure that he knocks his opponents out, which leaves the judges in a position where they play no part in the outcome. That’s a good thing for Golovkin, because as we saw in his last fight against Kell Brook, he might have ended up getting robbed if the fight had gone to the scorecards. It’s a good thing that Golovkin knocks out his opponents, because it limits the chances of him being on the receiving end of oddball scoring by judges.

In speaking about whether Golovkin should receive a flat fee or a percentage deal for the Canelo fight, Schaefer said, “It’s a split where you take into consideration Golovkin’s value, and not just a flat fee. I think there should be an upside proportionally. Truth be told, Canelo is the bigger name and the bigger star. It’s not about who is better or who is perceived to be better. It’s about who is the bigger star, and Canelo is the bigger star. Does he deserve the lion’s share? Absolutely! You need to be fair to your opponent as well and give him some upside. Maybe after a certain number of homes [give Golovkin some pay-per-view upside]. I would have made it already. Why wait? Tell me why. If Canelo loses, he’s still Canelo. You don’t lose anything. But if Canelo wins, you know what that means? It means Canelo won’t do 250,000 homes in pay-per-view anymore. It means he’ll do going forward for every single fight, 1 million pay-per-views,” said Schaefer.