By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya is the roadblock keeping the mega-fight between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin from being made, according to Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez. He says that before the Canelo-Golovkin fight can get made, De La Hoya needs to be 100% certain that Canelo will win that fight. Right now, De La Hoya is not yet certain that Canelo can beat Golovkin 100%.
Sanchez feels that once De La Hoya is 100 percent certain of victory for the 26-year-old Canelo, then the fight will be made. Sanchez says Canelo is certain that he can beat Golovkin, but not De La Hoya.
It’s a shame though, because Sanchez feels that the Canelo vs. Goovkin fight is so big that it’s the type of fight that can take three times. But the thing that’s keeping the fight from getting made is De La Hoya not being confident yet of victory for Canelo.
Sanchez said this to Fighhub.com about De La Hoya, Canelo and Golovkin:
“Until they get inside the ring and touch gloves, the fight’s not happening,” said Sanchez about the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. “Anything can happen from now and then. He’s a year away or less than a year away. Hopefully it happens for all of us. I want to see it. I think it’s the kind of fight that can happen two or three times, but they don’t seem to think so, because they’d be in a hurry to do it. Canelo’s a very talented fighter. It’s just a matter of stop talking and prove it; not only to yourself, but to the fans. The bottom line is it’s what Golovkin and Canelo are willing to accept for the fight, because we all work for them. I think the biggest road block is Oscar not being 100 percent sure can beat Golovkin. I think Canelo’s sure, but I don’t think Oscar’s sure. Once Canelo convinces him that he can, I think we’re going to be treated to a very great fight,” said Sanchez.
Canelo isn’t the type of talent that you can guarantee that he’ll ever be able to beat Golovkin. To be sure, Golovkin is definitely going to get older, but his punching power is likely going to continue to be there even in his 40s. If Golovkin is still able to crack, then he’s going to be a constant threat to beating Canelo.
It doesn’t matter how much head movement Canelo uses, he’s still going to be at great risk if/when he fights Golovkin in the future. If Golden Boy waits until Golovkin is in his 40s before they match Canelo against him, they’ll only make Canelo look bad if he loses. They should try and put the fight together right now while the 34-year-old Golovkin is still relatively young. The longer they wait the more boxing fans are going to criticize Canelo if he loses to Golovkin.
“Hopefully, he fights in the first quarter of 2017,” said Sanchez about Golovkin. “I think we have a fight in Kazakhstan in Expo 17 in June, and then he’ll fight in September. If all goes well, hopefully he’ll fight four times, and make up for the fight we didn’t have this year. I think the fans want to see him. We want to see him. He’s getting older. We’d like to enjoy him as long as we can. I don’t know who the opponents will be, but we’ll worry about that in the first quarter of 17, and see if it’s Jacobs. I hope it’s Jacobs, and then we’ll go from there. [Billy Joe] Saunders keeps talking. He may end up having a mandatory that he’s not going to like, and that’s Canelo. I think Canelo is moving up that ladder. If they happen to make that fight and Canelo beats him, then that makes our fight between Canelo and Golovkin that much more attractive. I think Saunders is going to have to make a move eventually, and when he does, he’s got two guns that are waiting for him. That’s Golovkin and Canelo; just as long as that titles comes back here where we can contest it in the states, and make sure who the No.1 is.”
Golovkin is supposed to be fighting WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs in his next fight in early 2017. The World Boxing Association has ordered the Golovkin-Jacobs fight. It’s got to take place by 2017. Sanchez expects the fight to get made in the first quarter of next year. It’s unclear what happens if the fight doesn’t get made. Does the WBA strip Jacobs of his strap? It’s going to be interesting to see what the WBA does and how long they wait before they strip the WBA title from Jacobs.
In speaking about the Golovkin-Jacobs negotiations, Sanchez said, “I don’t think Danny or Tom and the Hermann brothers came to financial terms. Even though it’s a mandatory, for some reasons they didn’t come together. But hopefully that can happen in the first quarter of next year. The WBA ordered it. It’s a mandated fight. It’s supposed to happen. I hope it happens, because Danny’s a great fighter. I honestly think Danny’s got the skills, the punching power, the movement, the great amateur pedigree, and he’s coming off of eight knockouts in a row. He’s done very well after the [Dmitry] Pirog fight. Andre feels he needs a little more time. That’s OK with us. I want Danny to be at his best so he can give us the type of fight that hopefully is one of those classics,” said Sanchez.
Jacobs has won his last eight fights since his loss to Dmitry Pirog, but he’s also not been fighting high caliber opposition along the way. Jacobs has that one fight against Peter Quillin in terms of him fighting a quality opponent. The rest of the guys that Jacobs has fought were flawed fighters like Sergio Mora and Jarrod Fletcher. We could see Jacobs getting blasted out by Golovkin when he gets inside the ring with him in early 2017.