By Dan Ambrose: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) took a lot of heat from the boxing world this year when he chose not to defend his WBC middleweight title against his mandatory challenger “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs). Canelo dropped the belt rather than defend it against Golovkin and potentially lose the title inside the ring by a knockout.
Canelo is now saying he knows he can beat Golovkin when the two fighters face each other. Canelo isn’t saying that’s going to happen. The only thing he’s saying is that his promoters Golden Boy made contact with Golovkin’s promoters to discuss a fight and they were unable to come up with an agreement.
There seems to be some confusion about whether there was a phone call made by Golden Boy to Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler. Never the less, the fight wasn’t made, and it’s unclear when or if the two fighters will ever face each other.
“I still stand by this and I can say for my team and myself that we did have conversations with their team the next day. Unfortunately, there is more to making a fight happen than just the fighters wanting to face each other.” said Canelo to Seensport Magazine. “I want to face Golovkin and I know I can beat him, I am not afraid of any fighter. However, there are terms to agree to and everyone has to feel comfortable with the terms and that is what happened here the negotiations didn’t go through,” said Canelo.
If the 26-year-old Canelo thinks he can beat Golovkin, then he needs to put a fight together with him to show the boxing world that he can do that. If Canelo and his promoters at going to get lost on the “terms to agree” for the fight with GGG, then they’re going to be stuck fighting lesser fighters like Liam Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, Alfredo Angulo and James Kirkland rather than taking on the best.
It’s unclear whether there was really contact made between the two fighter’s promoters. If so, then what is Golden Boy looking for in the negotiations with Golovkin. Do they want a gigantic cut of the revenue to the point where they are the ones that make out well in the fight and Golovkin only getting the chance to gain popularity and visibility from the fight?
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya already said in the past that if it were up to him, he would start the negotiations at a 90-10 purse split for Canelo against Golovkin. While some boxing fans would say that 10% is a good cut of the pie for Golovkin in a fight that could bring in 2 million pay-per-view buys, I don’t think it is.
Golovkin would be better off looking to fight Chris Eubank Jr., Daniel Jacobs, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez or the winner of the James DeGale vs. Badou Jack. Sooner or later, Canelo will run out of fighting the obscure/lesser world champions at 154 and 160, and he’ll need to fight Golovkin. Canelo will likely lose popularity if he starts strictly picking his opponents from the welterweight division rather than fighting guys his own size from the middleweight or better yet, the super middleweight division.
“I feel confident that I can beat Golovkin,” said Canelo. “I respect him as a fighter and what he has been able to accomplish but that does not faze me. At this point of my career every fight is important and one that will shape by legacy as a fighter. Facing GGG will just be another fight,” said Canelo.
If Golovkin is just another fight, then Canelo should look to fight him so that the boxing world can see how he does against someone that he just sees another fighter on his record. Of course, if Canelo is just talking to hear himself speak and is being disingenuous with his comments about Golovkin, then you can assume he’s just whistling past the graveyards, so to speak.
If Canelo is thinking straight, he’s got to see the fight against Golovkin as a very serious one, both in terms of the risk involved and for the sake of his legacy. Canelo’s legacy thus far is pretty weak because he’s generally beaten guys that are lighter than him. He lost against the best fighter he fought in Floyd Mayweather Jr, and then arguably lost to Erislandy Lara. The guys that Canelo has beaten are smaller, weaker guys like Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, James Kirkland, and Alfredo Angulo.
Canelo’s fight next month against WBO light middleweight champion Liam Smith on September 17 could be his last before he moves up to middleweight to possibly fight WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders in December or in early 2017. If Canelo wins that fight, then we’ll have to see whether he’s going to look to fight Golovkin in the second half of 2017.