Will the WBC force Canelo to fight Golovkin at 160?

By Boxing News - 02/07/2016 - Comments

golovkin5554(Photo credit: World Boxing Council) By Dan Ambrose: What remains to be seen later this year is whether the World Boxing Council will force their WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to face his #1 WBC challenger Gennady Golovkin at the full weight of 160lbs for their fight?

Golovkin, his promoter Tom Loeffler, and trainer Abel Sanchez, have all said that they will not give in and agree to fight Canelo at a catch-weight of 155lbs. They insist that the fight must take place at 160lbs. Normally, a world champion can only insist that their challengers agree to a catch-weight when it’s a voluntary defense and not a mandatory.

However, with the way that Canelo is talking, it seems that he’s going to try and force the catch-weight against Golovkin anyway. Canelo has already gone on record in saying that he doesn’t have to do what Golovkin wants, and that if he wants the fight, then it’ll be at 155lbs.

“I have respect for him, but if we do fight, it’s going to be at my [natural] weight class [of 155 pounds]. I’m the champion. I don’t have to do what he wants,” Canelo said.

What will be interesting to see is if the WBC will step in and force Canelo to fight Golovkin at the full weight. The WBC might not do that though. Canelo is a popular champion, and the WBC might choose to let him do what he wants. If the WBC isn’t going to do anything to force Canelo to fight at the full weight for the fight with Golovkin, then it might come down to the Nevada State Athletic Commission for them to make a decision about whether Canelo can force Golovkin to fight at 155.

I doubt that the Nevada Commission would even speak on the weight for the fight. If the WBC is going to give Canelo permission to force a catch-weight against ALL of his opponents, not just for his voluntary defenses, then I doubt that the Nevada Commission will chime in on this to make a governing decision.

“If he [Golovkin] wants to fight with me, let him come down to 155 and I’ll fight him whatever day he wants,” Canelo said to Fighthype.com. “At this moment, my body isn’t ready for 160 pounds. Maybe 1 or 2 more years I’ll be ready for 160,” Canelo said.

The way I see it going down is as follows; neither the WBC or the Nevada Commission will step in to force Canelo to defend his WBC middleweight title at the full weight of 160lbs. I think they’ll step away from the argument and say it’s an issue that should be worked out between the two fighters. As long as the fight is taking place within the weight parameters of the middleweight division, 155 to 160, I see the WBC and Nevada Commission letting the fight go ahead with Canelo setting the weight limit at 155 for the fight or whatever weight he wants.

I think it comes down to Canelo being a very, very popular fighter and a young one at that. Would Canelo stop fighting in Nevada if they insisted that he face Golovkin at 160? I don’t know. I’m betting that the Nevada Commission won’t want to anger Canelo by ruling against him being able to force all of his opponents to fight at the catch-weights of his choosing. I think it’s the same way with the WBC. Will they be willing to risk angering Canelo and having him potentially vacate their WBC middleweight title if they step in to force him to defend at the full weight of 160lbs against Golovkin? I doubt it. I think the WBC will bend over and let Canelo have his way in fighting at 155 or any weight between 155 and 160. As long as Canelo doesn’t tell Golovkin that he has to fight below 155 or above 160, I see the WBC letting him do what he pleases.

Amir Khan could throw a wrench into the works of a Canelo-Golovkin fight if he pulls off a huge upset in his fight against Canelo on May 7. I don’t see that happening though due to the huge size advantage Canelo will have in that fight, but it’s definitely possible. Khan would be doing Golovkin a big favor by defeating Canelo and getting rid of the entire catch-weight argument in the process.



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