By Sean Jones: Tom Loeffler says middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin won’t be fighting again until his potential rematch with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next May in 7 months from now. This is something that Loeffler and GGG have agreed to with Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions. They don’t want Golovkin to fight until the rematch.
Canelo doesn’t wish to fight for the remainder of 2017 after his fight with Goovkin last month on September 16. The fight was ruled a 12 round draw. The boxing world saw Golovkin as the winner, however.
Putting the rematch nearly 1 year ahead into the future arguably helps the 27-year-old Canelo, as he’s younger than the 35-year-old Golovkin. Loeffler has faith in Golden Boy that they’ll make the rematch between Canelo and Golovkin next May. However, if the rematch still isn’t made by that time, then Loeffler says he’ll question whether Canelo wants the fight. Loeffler doesn’t say what Golovkin gains by waiting for a fight that might not happen. It makes sense for Golovkin to wait if it’s a sure thing rematch with Canelo in May. But for Golovkin to be waiting on a fight that might not happen, it seems senseless.
“Everything I’ve heard is that Canelo doesn’t want to fight until before May, so that is part of a concession on Gennady’s side, as Gennady would like to fight sooner than May,” said Loeffler to wbcboxing.com. ”But Gennady’s agreed that if we can do the rematch directly, he’ll wait until then.”
Is this a sign of weakness to wait for Canelo? Some fighters would insist on the fight being made right away. Could Canelo leave Floyd Mayweather Jr. hanging like this? I doubt it. Mayweather would move on if Canelo told him the fight could only take place in May. If Mayweather was told he couldn’t fight before the rematch, he would laugh at Canelo and walk away.
It’s too bad that Golovkin will be missing out on a payday fight in December. If Golovkin were to fight in December, he could face Miguel Cotto or Billy Joe Saunders and get money facing either of them. Whatever Golovkin makes in the rematch with Canelo, you have to figure that it’s not as much money as you would think given him missing out on a payday against Cotto or Saunders. If Golovkin and Loeffler had a choice in the matter and it wasn’t in the contract with Golden Boy that he couldn’t take an interim fight while waiting for the rematch with Canelo, then it’s not a good deal for Triple G to bypass a fight in December. It plays into Canelo and Golden Boy’s hands for Golovkin to be inactive, and just sitting there waiting for the rematch.
With Loeffler still not sure whether the rematch with Canelo will get done or not, it seems foolish for Golovkin to sit outside of the ring until May. It’s a real risk on Golovkin’s part to just sit, wait and hope a second fight will get made. Even It does get made, Golovkin will lose almost a year of his career, and he’ll still likely wind up fighting the rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada, which you have to think favors Canelo. He’s the one that has been fighting in that city on a frequent basis since 2013. The fight
“If it goes past May there might be some evidence that Canelo doesn’t want it, but as of right now, all the indications are that we should be able to work out the rematch for May,” said Loeffler.
As you can see, Loeffler doesn’t even know if the rematch will take place against Canelo. In other words, Golovkin is going to sit and wait for a fight that might not happen in May. Without a guarantee that the rematch will take place, Golovkin and Loeffler should be working on a fight with someone else. When Canelo and Golden Boy are certain they want the rematch, they’ll let Golovkin know, and you can bet the fight will get put together quickly.
It’s been almost one month since the Canelo-Golovkin fight took place, and there still isn’t an agreed upon deal for the rematch. That’s bad news for Golovkin. It suggests there may be some hesitation on Canelo or Golden Boy’s part. If they’re looking to get a better deal for the rematch than in the previous fight, that’s not good either. Golovkin fought well enough to deserve the decision over Canelo in the minds of a lot of boxing fans.
“We still have to work out the details. There’s no guarantee will take the ring. But I’ve got a good feeling about it, Golden Boy wants to do it, HBO wants to do it, and the fans want to see the rematch,” said Loeffler.
So there’s no guarantee the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight gets made, and yet Golovkin and Loeffler are willing to sit out of action until May hoping the rematch gets made. I don’t know if that’s wise on their part to do that. They should only be sitting out if they know for a fact that the rematch will happen. If they’re not sure, then they should look in another direction and fight in December. At some point Canelo and Golden Boy will want the rematch with Golovkin. My guess is after they face the likes of Jermall Charlo or Danny Jacobs and lose to one or both of them. There are 4 good fighters in middleweight division that could potentially beat Canelo if he ever faces them. I’m talking about these guys:
• Jermall Charlo – This is a fighter that Canelo didn’t fight for whatever reason when he was competing in the junior middleweight division. Will Canelo fight Jacobs at 160 or steer around him.
• Danny Jacobs
• Sergiy Derevyanchenko
• Luis Arias
We already saw what Golovkin could do against Canelo in their fight last month on September 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In the rematch, we’ll likely see a much more aggressive Golovkin than in the first fight. Golovkin might have thought have went into the Canelo fight last month with the belief that he would be given a decision if he beat him. I’m pretty sure that Golovkin will approach the rematch with another frame of mind. He’ll be looking to knockout Canelo to take the judges out of the equation entirely.
The only way Golovkin can do that is by getting in the trenches with the redheaded Mexican star to make sure his punches land with greater frequency than they did in the first fight. Golovkin isn’t going to be able to land his big power shots if he stays on the outside picking Canelo apart with jabs. Throwing long right hand power shots against Canelo doesn’t work unless your name is Floyd Mayweather Jr. The only way to land power a power shot on Canelo is to stand on the inside, close enough to where he can’t dodge the punches. Golovkin needs to throw body punches too. That was Canelo’s weakness going into the fight, and Golovkin didn’t aim any of his punches in that area.
Golovkin has to decide what kind of fighter he wants to be. If he’s going to bend over and wait on Canelo, he’s going to find himself possibly waiting forever on the rematch. By this time, Canelo has seen the replay of the fight, and he now understands that he can’t beat Golovkin no matter what he does. Canelo doesn’t have the size, each or the engine to beat Golovkin. Further, Canelo’s punching power isn’t enough to hurt Golovkin. So, the only thing Canelo can do is try and wait Golovkin out until he gets older. I don’t think that’s going to work, because Golovkin will likely still have his power well into his 40s, and he’s not going to shrink down to Canelo’s size. If Canelo wants to wait for another 2 years before he makes the rematch with GGG, he’ll only be wasting his time, because I see Golovkin being able to beat Caenlo even then.
