By Dan Ambrose: Newly crowned WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler are still going to attempt to negotiate a fight against Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez despite him giving up the WBC title today. The main reason Golovkin was interested in fighting the 25-year-old Canelo was because he had the WBC 160lb title that he wanted.
Canelo chose to give the WBC belt up without a fight on Wednesday, effectively handing it over to GGG in a move that some fans see as submissive move. Canelo talked boldly in his statement to the media about why he was giving up his WBC title. Canelo even said this in his statement: “I fear no man. Never has that been more true than today. I will fight GGG, and I will beat GGG, but I will not be forced into the ring by artificial deadlines.”
Actions speak louder than words. If Canelo was truly unafraid of Golovkin, you would think that he would hold onto the WBC title and stick it out in the negotiations, even if that meant that it had to go to a purse bid on May 24.
By vacating his WBC title, it looks to some like a submissive move to what some people see as the master of the middleweight division in Golovkin.
“We’d still like to make the fight with Canelo. Just because he doesn’t have the title doesn’t mean his value is diminished,” said Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler to the latimes.com. “He’s still the biggest draw in boxing. If we can’t make the fight, we’ll explore the other options on the table for Gennady. A fight with [World Boxing Organization] champion Billy Joe Saunders is attractive, as are [others].”
For Golovkin to use his backup plan of fighting WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, he’ll have to agree to fight him in the UK because that’s where Saunders says he wants the fight to take place.
I can almost see Loeffler gloating right now about Canelo giving up his WBC title rather than going down fighting. The question is did Mexican greats from the past like Julian Cesar Chavez Sr. and Salvador Sanchez vacate their titles when they were in negotiations with a dangerous challenger?
Loeffler is being kind by saying Canelo’s value hasn’t diminished by him vacating his WBC middleweight title. It clearly has with the hardcore boxing fans judging by the comments being made about him in the internet forums. The casual fans who aren’t aware that Canelo has given up his WBC title will still remain fans of his because they won’t likely find out about him giving up the belt. There’s probably more than enough of Canelo’s built in fan base in the United States to continue to support him despite this submissive-like move he made today. Loeffler is correct about Canelo being the biggest draw in the sport right now. Whether he can stay that way remains to be seen. Boxing fans can be fickle. If you lose an important fight, they’ll quickly abandon a fighter like rats leaping from a sinking ship. Manny Pacquiao appeared to lose many of his fans after his losses to Juan Manuel Marquez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Canelo might wind up in the same boat if he takes a loss to Golovkin. However, if Canelo dodges the fight with him, then he could keep his fans because he will have avoided a potential knockout defeat.
“We have a lot of respect for Canelo and know he’s not afraid to fight anyone,” said Loeffler. “They said they needed more time with the deadline coming up next week. They didn’t want to hold the belt hostage and stayed true to their word. I still think the Canelo fight will happen. We’ll continue to negotiate and hope we can make the fight happen as soon as possible.”
I don’t know that the Golovkin will agree to a catch-weight for the Canelo fight to happen, and that’s the only way I see the fight taking place. Canelo said recently that he’s a 154lb fighter and he won’t be fighting anyone at 160. You would have to assume that he includes Golovkin in that group of fighters that he wouldn’t fight at the full weight for the middleweight division.
Golovkin might be better off to have Loeffler look at another option rather than putting too much more time in the negotiations for the Canelo fight unless he’s willing to fight him at 155 and be weakened in the process. I think that’s the only way Golovkin will get the fight with Canelo.