Canelo: Golovkin can accept the offer or not

By Boxing News - 02/21/2017 - Comments

Image: Canelo: Golovkin can accept the offer or not

By Dan Ambrose: Former two division world champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez reminded the media today that IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin has been given an offer for a fight between them. Golovkin can take the offer or not. Canelo didn’t say what the offer is, but it appears that it’s the same $15 million flat fee offer that was given months ago.

Canelo says it’s up to Golovkin. Canelo says his concentration is on his next fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6. Golovkin has his offer from him and Golden Boy. He can do what he wants. Canelo didn’t say whether this is a new offer or the same existing one.

(Photo Credit: Rich/Golden Boy Promotions)

De La Hoya has same attitude that Canelo has regarding Golovkin being able to take the offer given to him or not. I wonder if De La Hoya will still feel the same way if the fortunes of Canelo turn sour after his next fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6? If Canelo loses to Chavez Jr. and Golovkin wins his next fight against Daniel Jacobs on May 18, we could see De La Hoya being put in a position where he may need to sweeten the offer to Golovkin considerably in order to get the fight done.

Golovkin would not likely be a priority in that situation. Canelo will definitely need to fight Chavez Jr. in a rematch in order to avenge the loss, because his career will be imploding without winning a rematch.

“The Ball is in his court,” said Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya via RingTV.com about Golovkin receiving an offer. “Let’s just say that the deal is a combination of both,” De La Hoya said about an offer of money and a percentage deal. “If they’re not happy with the deal, then it’s not on us. The deal is there. He would make the most money ever against Canelo and if you really want the fight — Canelo’s not running from nobody. He wants to fight the very best, and that’s absolutely including GGG.”

Canelo seemed angry on Tuesday at being questioned by the boxing media about Golovkin. It’s unclear why. Canelo was asked a simple question about the negotiations. It seemed as if Canelo was indignant that Golovkin and his team would want a deal that they felt was fair. It’s not as if they’re taking money out of Canelo’s pocket by asking for a better deal than the flat fee offer of $15 million.

A fight against Golovkin will help Canelo by giving him a huge payday that he wouldn’t get fighting anyone else. If Canelo beats Golovkin, it will help him making bigger paydays in his future fights, because he’ll finally have beaten a talented fighter in his prime rather than the obscure guys and the fighters that have seen better days like Miguel Cotto, James Kirkland, Alfredo Angulo and Shane Mosley.

“The offer has already been made,” said Canelo on Tuesday about an offer made to Golovkin for a fight in September. “We set the table about him taking the offer or not. It’s on him. Right now my concentration is on this fight on hand. But like I said, the offer has been made.”

Golovkin probably won’t get $15 million fighting anyone else right now, but Canelo’s options are likely to die down after he gets done with the Chavez Jr. fight. Unless Canelo keeps fighting Chavez Jr. over and over again in rematches, which De La Hoya is open to, he’s probably going to see his paydays drop off.

Golden Boy president Eric Gomez has a different stance than Canelo and De La Hoya. He’s saying that the Canelo-Golovkin fight is close. Maybe Gomez is the voice of reason, the cool head in the negotiations. It would be nice if Gomez can be the one that makes the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight happen, because the tough talk from De La Hoya and Canelo give the indication that that they’re not willing to bend in the flat fee offer that was made to Golovkin. It’s as if they still believe they’re negotiating with one of the less popular fighters that Canelo has faced recently.

“There’s some little details, there’s some loose ends, it’s not done yet,” said Gomez to RingTV.com. “I can tell you that we’re close. But there’s some details that have to be worked out. There’s a couple of little details.”

This is interesting news from Gomez. Hopefully this means that Golden Boy is going to give Golovkin the percentage deal that his promoter Tom Loeffler wants. Just giving Golovkin a take it or leave it $15 million offer isn’t the best way to try and put together the fight with him and Canelo. The Canelo-Golovkin fight is seen as the biggest one in boxing right now.

You can argue that Golovkin at least deserves a 60-40 split of the revenue with Canelo receiving the bigger cut. But if Golovkin isn’t even going to be given a split of the revenue, then it’s not a great deal for him. Golovkin might choose to move on if Canelo and Golden Boy decide they don’t feel he’s worth giving a split of the revenue.

Gomez and De La Hoya are jumping ahead of themselves by talking about the Golovkin vs. Canelo fight. Canelo still has a very tough fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) on May 6 on HBO pay-per-view. That’s a fight that Canelo could lose if he’s not on his A-game. Even if Canelo is at his best, he’s facing his biggest opponent yet in Chavez Jr. Granted, Chavez Jr. hasn’t been the most active fighter in the last five years, and he didn’t look very good in his last three fights against Dominik Britsch, Marcos Reyes and Andrzej Fonfara.

The last time that Chavez Jr. looked good was three years ago in his rematch against Brian Vera in March 2014. That was a long time ago. Chavez Jr. is still a strong puncher. If he can focus on landing his shots to the body of Canelo, he might be able to knock him out.

Canelo seems to want the fight with Golovkin, but on his own terms. Golovkin is the three-belt champion at middleweight, while Canelo is just a guy that hasn’t yet moved up to the division. Canelo will be a challenger when he faces Golovkin. This could look potentially very strange if the money Canelo gets for the fight dwarfs what Golovkin receives despite him being the guys with three titles.

Golovkin could be a four-belt champion by the time he faces Canelo in September, as there’s talk of him facing WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders in July in a unification fight. If Golovkin has all four titles when/if he faces Canelo in September, then he should get a really good deal in terms of the purse split instead of just a flat fee offer.

“The offer is there,” said De La Hoya about an offer to Golovkin for the Canelo fight. “He would be making the most money ever. Golovkin without Canelo is — he’s making what he’s making. We’re waiting for him and the ball’s in his court. There is a date in September wide open so it’s just a matter of him signing on the dotted line. The offer is there. Eric’s been talking to Tom [Loeffler] and the offer is there.”

It sounds bad when you get a promoter talking the way that De La Hoya is about the Golovkin fight. Instead of sounding patient and calm about the Golovkin vs. Canelo negotiations, De La Hoya sounds annoyed by the process. That’s not the attitude to take when you’re trying to put together an important fight. De La Hoya sounds almost spoiled. He’s probably used to Canelo’s opponents readily agree to what’s offered to them, as most boxers would die for the chance to fight the red-headed star.

Now that Canelo is in negotiations for a fighter that is almost as popular as him, but with arguably much more talent, De La Hoya is sounding annoyed that Golovkin and Loeffler aren’t readily agreeing to what’s offered to them for fight. De La Hoya needs to realize that Golovkin isn’t Liam Smith, Amir Khan or James Kirkland. Golovkin is unquestionably the best fighter in the 160lb division right now. You can say that because he’s got 3 of the 4 world titles in that division, and he’s knocked out every opponent he’s faced since 2008. That’s 9 consecutive years of nothing but knockouts for Golovkin.

If Canelo was in the same boat as Golovkin with 9 straight years of knockouts, and him holding 3 of the middleweight titles, then you could understand him playing hard ball with GGG by giving him a ‘take it or leave it offer.’ It seems to be that there’s an imbalance between Golovkin and Canelo when it comes to talent and accomplishment. Golovkin has more things going for him in his boxing career than Canelo.

Golovkin has wanted to fight the top champions in his division to win all the belts. We didn’t see that from Canelo when he was fighting at 154. Canelo didn’t go after all the champions in the junior middleweight division. Canelo didn’t face IBF champion Jermall Charlo, WBC champion Jermell Charlo, and he never fought Demetrius Andrade when he was the WBO champion. Canelo didn’t go after the WBO belt until after Andrade was stripped of the title.

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