By Dan Ambrose: With Saul Canelo Alvarez on the shelf for the remainder of 2016 with a fractured right thumb, unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is moving in to take Canelo’s December 10 date on HBO with his fight against Daniel Jacobs. World Boxing Association president Gilberto Mendoza has ordered the Golovkin-Jacobs fight, and their management is negotiating the fight, which could take place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Canelo, 26, fractured his right thumb in his fight against WBO junior middleweight champion Liam smith. The good news for Golovkin is that it opens up the December 10 date for him to fight Jacobs.
HBO can use their money for a very good fight between Golovkin and Jacobs instead of the Canelo. Had Canelo not been injured, he would have been fighting on regular HBO against one of the following opponents: David Lemieux, Curtis Stevens or Billy Joe Saunders.
“That was Canelo’s date and we’re shooting for that date now for GGG,” said Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler to espn.com. “Hopefully, we can work out the details soon for Jacobs.”
You can argue that the boxing world will gain from Canelo not being able to fight on December 10, because Golovkin vs. Jacobs is likely going to be a better fight than the one that Golden Boy would have made for Canelo. Jacobs has the kind of talent and punching power to be competitive with Golovkin. The guys that were being considered for Canelo, Saunders, Lemieux, and Stevens, weren’t going to be competitive.
Golovkin will get a chance to be seen by a lot of boxing fans with his fight against Jacobs on HBO. It’s a win-win fight for Golovkin and for HBO. As for Canelo, he misses out due to his hand injury. Canelo and Golden Boy made a mistake of having him fight little known Liam Smith instead of a better known fighter that is recognizable to U.S fans. The second mistake Golden Boy made was having Canelo vs. Smith televised on HBO pay-per-view rather than on regular HBO. It wasn’t a PPV worthy fight in the minds of a lot of boxing fans. Lance Pugmire of the LA Times says the early results of the Canelo-Smith fight show that the fight brought in between 250,000 to 310,000 PPV buys on HBO. That’s not good.
The WBA gave Golovkin’s management 30 days to negotiate the fight with Jacobs. They have until the middle of next month to get the fight put together before they order a purse bid.
Golovkin defeated welterweight Kell Brook by a 5th round knockout on September 10 of this month at the O2 arena in London, England. Brook suffered a fractured right eye socket that forced the fight to be stopped. Jacobs defeated former WBA junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora by a 7th round knockout on September 9.