By Tim Fletcher: It’s becoming increasingly clear that for interim WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) to get the fight that he wants against the current WBC 160lb champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-0-1, 32 KOs), he’s going to need to agree to the 155lb catch-weight that Canelo wants for the fight to happen.
Whether he likes or not, Golovkin needs to agree to the catch-weight if he really wants the fight against the young champion. I don’t think it’s asking a whole lot that Golovkin agree to give Canelo this small handicap.
The young Mexican fighter believes he needs some kind of a handicap in his fights at middleweight right now to give him an edge against the other middleweights. I don’t think this is something that will change even if the World Boxing Council president Mauricio Suliaman steps in and sides with Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler in saying that Canelo must agree to fight him at 160.
I get the picture that Canelo will stand by his principals and give up the WBC middleweight title if he can’t continue to get the catch-weights that he wants for him to continue fighting in the weight class. I don’t think Suliaman is going to step in and insist that Canelo fights Golovkin at the full weight for the middleweight division, and if he does, I think Canelo will vacate the belt.
Golovkin needs to realize that sometimes you lose when you try and get your way with another fighter. If the WBC sides with Golovkin to push Canelo into fighting him at the full weight of 160lb weight division, I think Golovkin will lose the war with Canelo simply vacating the title. That’s why it’s better for Golovkin to let Canelo have this victory so that the fight can take place.
Ultimately, I think Canelo is hurt by his insistence to fight at 155 more than Golovkin and the guys that are agreeing to fight him at this weight, because Canelo is clearly a LARGE middleweight at this point in his career. He might not want to admit it to the boxing fans or to himself, but he’s definitely a large middleweight.
Golovkin can probably make the 155lb weight limit easier than Canelo, and then rehydrate up to his natural weight without being drained. Canelo won’t gain an edge by having the fight take place at 155. It’s all childish stuff that makes no sense at all, and that’s why Golovkin should give Canelo what he wants so the fight can get made.
Right now Golovkin isn’t at the same level that the 25-year-old Canelo is as far as popularity goes, and I’m not sure that he ever will. Canelo agreed to a catch-weight of 152 pounds for his fight against the then more popular Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their fight in 2013, and it’s a move that obviously hurt Canelo and helped Mayweather.
I think it is Golovkin’s turn to do the same thing for Canelo. He’s not the A-side in a fight against the Mexican fighter. Canelo is clearly the A-side in the equation. When you’re sitting in the position as a king-like fighter the way Canelo clearly is now at this point in his career, you can get your way nine times out of ten.
It’s in Golovkin’s best interest to recognize that sooner rather than later. If Golovkin chooses not to let Canelo get whatever thing that he’s requesting for the fight to take place, then I don’t think there’s going to be a fight between the two fighters ever. Golovkin needs to recognize this now so that he can have the fight with Canelo take place while he’s still relatively young at 33.
The longer Golovkin waits to give Canelo what he wants in the negotiations, the more it will hurt himself, because Canelo has the youth on his side. If Golovkin waits two or three years to give Canelo the catch-weight that he wants, he’ll be in his mid-30s, and perhaps no longer the fighter that he is now. If Golovkin agrees to fight Canelo now at the 155lb catch-weight that he wants, then he can take advantage of his increased popularity that he’ll get from that fight in his fights past that.
Golovkin will become immediately a more popular fighter from facing Canelo now. That’s important. If Golovkin waits to agree to Canelo’s catch-weight demands two or three years from now, then it’s going to increase his popularity later in his career, and he won’t be able to take full advantage of his popularity like he would if it came for him at an earlier age.
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