By Jeff Aranow: Golden Boy Promotions reportedly still are only offering IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin a flat fee for a fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez, according to Dan Rafael. Golovkin’s management wants at least a 40% cut of the revenue for the fight.
Golden Boy still isn’t offering Golovkin a percentage deal though. It’s a lump fee of $15 million now. How much more money the 26-year-old Canelo will be getting above the $15 million that Golovkin would be receiving for the fight is unknown.
With Golden Boy insisting that Canelo is the A-side in the equation, it’s quite probable that Canelo could make considerably more than what Golovkin would be receiving. A 60-40 split in Canelo’s favor would be a fair percentage split given that Golovkin would be the one bringing in a lot of extra boxing fans to purchase the fight above the lower PPV numbers that Canelo has been getting recently for his fights against Liam Smith and Amir Khan.
Canelo vs. Smith brought in 300,000 buys on HBO. Canelo’s fight against Amir Khan last May brought in 600,000 buys. Both of those fights were a big drop off from the 900,000 buys for Canelo’s fight against Miguel Cotto last year in November 2015. It’s not good news when a fighter sees his PPV numbers dropping off steadily like we’re seeing with Canelo.
That tells that Canelo NEEDS Golovkin right now to pump up his PPV numbers to turn him into a crossover star in the way that Oscar De La Hoya became a crossover star in the U.S. Canelo isn’t taking the proper fights for him to become a crossover star.
That means he needs to fight guys like Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs and Jermall Charlo if he wants to become a big star.
Golovkin’s management obviously have a pretty good idea for what their fighter brings to the table for the Canelo fight, so you can’t blame them for wanting him to get a 40 percent cut of the loot for the fight. When you see Manny Pacquiao getting a 60-40 split of the revenue against superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their ‘Fight of the Century’, it makes sense for Golovkin to receive at least a 40 percent deal against Canelo.
Flat fees are for lesser fighters, not for the big names. By Golden Boy only offering Golovkin a flat fee instead of a percentage deal against Canelo, they’re sending a message to Golovkin and his management that they don’t see them as worthy of being given a percentage deal.
Unless Golden Boy chooses to change their mind about Golovkin only being worth a flat fee, then Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler needs to take him in another direction towards other fighters. That’s if Golovkin gets past the dangerous Danny Jacobs in their fight on March 18 on HBO PPV. If Golovkin loses that fight, then he might as well forget about fighting Canelo for big money.
The $15 million flat fee would likely drop considerably. I think Golden Boy would still be interested in signing Golovkin for the Canelo fight, because he would still be more popular than the other middleweights in the division, including Jacobs. I think Golden Boy would take advantage of Golovkin’s loss to offer him a much smaller flat fee than before. I wouldn’t be surprised if the flat fee dropped to as low as $5 million in a take it or leave it offer.
Golovkin and his management should stick it out until they get the 40 percent cut of the revenue they want against Canelo. Eventually, Golden Boy will realize that it’s better to give Golovkin the 40 percent cut before Canelo gets beaten again, which is only a matter of time unless Golden Boy keeps matching him with sure thing wins against guys like Liam Smith and Amir Khan.
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Golden Boy Promotions is currently in negotiations with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) for a fight against Canelo in either February or May 2017. While Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya said last week that negotiations between Golden Boy and Chavez Jr. isn’t taking place, Golden Boy president Eric Gomez is saying that negotiations have been taking place for a month now for the Chavez Jr. vs. Canelo fight.
One of the sticking points is the negotiations is the catchweight. Chavez Jr. is said to be agreeable to a catchweight of 165lbs. It’s unclear what weight Canelo wants Chavez Jr. to come in at. It might prove to be impossible to get Chavez Jr. below 165 without seriously weakening him. Chavez Jr. hasn’t fought at 160 for four years since his loss to Sergio Martinez in 2012. If Chavez Jr. has to melt down close to 160, he might be too weak to fight. It might prove difficult for Chavez Jr. to make any catchweight before 168. He barely made that weight for his last fight against Dominik British this month on December 10. Chavez Jr. weighed in at 167.9lbs. They’re saying that Chavez Jr. easily made the fight, but I don’t believe that for a second. I think Chavez Jr. likely struggled to make the weight, as he usually does, but fortunately for him he made it this time.
“We’re in talks, we’ve been talking for about a month,” Eric Gomez said to ESPN.com. “There’s interest on both sides. The catchweight is being negotiated. Canelo has a limit he wants, they have a limit Chavez wants, so it’s being negotiated.”
Chavez Jr. has very little chance of winning the fight against Canelo. Chavez Jr. can win simply by getting the best deal possible in terms of the money for the fight. So even if he gets knocked out by Canelo, he’ll make a ton of money. It’ll be interesting to learn whether Golden Boy Promotions is going to be giving Chavez Jr. a flat fee as well rather than a percentage deal.
The Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight would be a huge one that should bring in a lot of fans on HBO PPV, and fill one of the large stadiums in Texas. But whether Chavez Jr. will be able to share in the revenue for the fight against Canelo by getting a percentage deal is the big question. It would be funny if Golden Boy loses both the Chavez Jr. and the Golovkin fights for Canelo by choosing to offer only a flat fee to both fighters rather than a percentage deal.