By Leigh K. Seto: In the era where PPV numbers are king, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the current WBC Middleweight champion, is the torch carrier of this new era. The assortment of Bubblegum belts has diluted their meaning and fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao exposed in recent past that belts are meaningless. Mayweather spent years avoiding Paul Williams and Pacquiao defended his title 7 times off guys who were rebounding after a loss.
Lets put this in perspective how corrupt these organizations still are. Canelo Alvarez is currently un-ranked by the WBA, the IBF, and the WBO in both Middleweight and Jr Middleweight divisions. These organizations are so bias and corrupt they’ve made being a champion meaningless. The only credible rankings seem to come from impartial rankings from Fightnews and Ring magazine (which also aren’t without their flaws). So, triple G’s current run of title defenses were against meaningless, nameless fighters that the average boxing fan never heard of, but are somehow ranked above the recognized champion Alvarez. Golovkin defends his weak opposition by maintaining that he has to fight mandatories. Mandatory fights for belts that are worthless. Until there is integrity amongst these organizations the public sentiment should be that all of these belts carry no weight. Because why defend a championship that is corrupt? By the way, Canelo is in good company. The current WBC Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is also unranked by the WBA, IBF, and WBO. This is so ridiculous.
Now that I have your attention, what we can go by in “Prize fighting” is PPV numbers. I’m sorry to hurt the Golovkin fan fare but he is just not ready for Canelo in regards to this. Golovkin just recently had a dismal PPV showing by all accounts barely clearing 100k buys. He just doesn’t carry a large fan base. Canelo on the other hand, has a die hard following that has carried him to the top 3 in PPV buys in the last 5 years just behind May and Pac. Canelo could literally fight anyone at this point and maintain a strong showing. Lets look at the ladder, Golovkin will not have a fight on PPV again, unless Canelo agrees. This fight is a mega-fight for only the die-hard fight fan. Right now this fight isn’t nearly as big as it could be, because Golovkin simply isn’t ready. Just this past weekend Canelo fought Amir Khan. For Canelo this was a smart move. It was a safe fight, but more importantly the Canelo Alvarez brand went to Europe and increased his name recognition in Europe. Where Khan has a large fan base. That is what happens when you fight a well known fighter.
What is the solution? Gennady can fix this by fighting Andre Ward. Andre Ward is a Gold medalist known around the world. He also won the Super Six competition that was very pleasing for long time fight fans like yours truly years ago. Ward has been out of the lime light the last few years with Management issues None the less, with a win against Ward and Golovkin would gain the respect of fans around the world, but more importantly he would make a name for himself in the American market. Lets face it, Floyd will not fight triple G because its too dangerous and not enough money. So the only other worthy American fighter to help with his name recognition is obviously Ward.
This may not please the diehards, but rivalries have to build momentum. They must happen at the peak of interest. Otherwise, the fight happens too early like the Roy Jones Jr/Hopkins 1 fight. Which most people don’t know was actually on the undercard of a Riddick Bowe fight. I’m not saying it would ever be an undercard fight, just merely saying the Jones Jr/Hopkins fight could have been the fight of the century if it had happened 5 yrs later. Golovkin’s lack of fan fare at this point reduces a potentially mega-fight into just a good fight.
Before all the Golovkin nation gets their hypothetical panties in a bunch, I will say this. At this point, I would bet my money on him to beat Canelo soundly. I don’t think Canelo is a natural middleweight. He’s a tremendous fighter, but he’s still too young to face a veteran like Golovkin. But he’s not a coward. He’s protected by his management team which is actually smart, but I’m certain Canelo would fight anyone that signs up to fight him. He’s a warrior. How many 25 year olds have had 50 fights. It took Mayweather 38 years to reach 49 and Golovkin (34) hasn’t even hit 35 fights.
This fight will happen, but it should happen when Gennady Golovkin is ready!!!