By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy President Eric Gomez is reportedly concerned with the rumors of IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin facing WBO 160 pound champion Billy Joe Saunders on June 10, because it could get in the way of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez facing Triple G in September.
Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler shutdown the Saunders-Golovkin rumors this week by saying that they have no plans on fighting him on June 10. A fight between Golovkin and Saunders would very likely be a short one with the fight ending in 6 rounds or less.
Golovkin is a huge puncher, and Saunders is struggling to beat fringe contenders at this point in his career. However, Gomez says that Golden Boy would want to start marketing the Canelo-Golovkin fight early, and things might be thrown off if Golovkin is facing Saunders in June.
What Gomez didn’t discuss was how Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya has been talking about a possible rematch with Canelo and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for September. How can Golovkin and his promoter Loeffler make definite plans for September if they’re not even sure that De La Hoya will commit Canelo to the fight? De La Hoya was saying that if the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight is an exciting one, then a rematch would take place. That would bump Golovkin off the September date and put Chavez Jr. in his place.
You can understand why Golovkin would want to fight in June against Saunders if he’s uncertain whether he’ll even get the fight with Canelo. Golovkin already missed out on fighting last December due to the negotiations with Daniel Jacobs dragging on for months before they finally were able to get the contract signed to fight each other on March 18.
“We’re talking and he’s talking about making the fight (between Golovkin and Canelo) in September,” said Gomez to RingTV.com. “If he tries to do a fight with Saunders, that will screw up the plans. We need enough time to promote a big fight,” Gomez said. “You have to do the (media) rounds. You have to do all these TV shows,” said Gomez.
The real question is does Golovkin and Loeffler completely trust Canelo and Golden Boy enough for them to not fight Saunders? It could backfire on Golovkin to put all his eggs in one basket and just assume that Canelo will fight him in September. Going by what Canelo has done in the past in saying he’ll fight him and then vacating his WBC title to avoid the fight, it doesn’t make sense for Golovkin to trust him.
If Golovkin chooses to not fight Saunders on June 10, he could wind up empty-handed in terms of an important fight for the remainder of 2017 if Canelo and Golden Boy choose to Chavez Jr. again. Golovkin would be stuck defending his title against the likes of Tureano Johnson or someone like that. Not fighting Saunders would only make sense for Golovkin if Loeffler can get Canelo and Golden Boy to sign the contract for the September fight ahead of time so that they know for a fact that the fight will be there for them in September. If not, then it makes no sense for Golovkin not to fight Saunders on June 10 if the fight can get made. That’s a good money fight for Golovkin, and it would allow him to pick up the last piece of the middleweight puzzles in winning the WBO title.
If Golovkin doesn’t fight Saunders, then there’s a chance that someone else could beat him and that wreck his plans. What happens if Canelo decides he wants to pick up the WBO strap? If Golovkin passes up on the Saunders fight, Canelo could swoop in and get a title shot against Saunders and take his title from him. That’s not good for Golovkin. It’s in Golovkin’s best interest for him to win the WBO title BEFORE he fights Canelo, because he can use that title as leverage to get a better deal with Canelo in the negotiations.
With the title, Golovkin can say that he’s the unified champion at middleweight. Holding all the belts would definitely give Golovkin more bargaining room to get a better cut of the financial pie. Right now, Golovkin isn’t even being given a percentage cut of the revenue for the fight. He’s being given a flat fee offer by Golden Boy for the Canelo fight. Winning the WBO title could change everything when it comes to the negotiations.
When you hold all the titles in a particular division, you hold all the cards. Canelo can say he’s the more popular of the two, but you still can’t ignore Golovkin if he’s got all the belts. That should at least put him in position to ask for a 60-40 split of the revenue for the fight. If Golovkin holds 3 out of the 4 belts at middleweight, then Golden Boy can say that he doesn’t have all the titles, so all he’s entitled to is a flat fee for the fight.
Since Golovkin and Loeffler have no way of knowing whether Canelo will actually take the fight with him in September, it makes sense for him to get as many fights in as possible before September. If Canelo does fight him in September, then so be it. But if Canelo doesn’t face Golovkin, then he’s going to have wasted valuable time by not having fought in June or July. Golovkin wants to fight 4 times in 2017. That’s not going to be possible if he doesn’t fight in June.
“Our first goal is to make the fight,” Gomez said he was told by Loeffler. “And I said, ‘Ok great.’ But if he does something in June, then it could jeopardize of push it back at least.”
Canelo went and fought Liam Smith last September rather than fighting Golovkin. Canelo is now fighting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6 instead of taking the fight against Golovkin. If Gomez wants to complain about Golovkin fighting Saunders in June, he should look at what Golden Boy has done with Canelo. They’ve been matching him up against other fighters rather than making the fight against Golovkin. De La Hoya said that he wanted to let the Canelo-Golovkin fight marinate so that it would get bigger. How does Golovkin know that De La Hoya won’t choose to kick the fight down the road into 2018 or 2019?