De La Hoya guarantees Canelo vs. Golovkin takes place in 2017

By Boxing News - 12/14/2016 - Comments

Image: De La Hoya guarantees Canelo vs. Golovkin takes place in 2017

By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya is guaranteeing that his fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will absolutely take on middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in September 2017, as long as the Kazakhstan fighter accepts the contract offered to him and signs it. De La Hoya insists that the contract is a fair contract for Golovkin.

As far as the weight goes, De La Hoya says Canelo will fight Golovkin WITHOUT a catchweight at the full 160 pounds for the division. De La Hoya’s guarantee that the Canelo-Golovkin fight will get made could wind up being an empty guarantee if the offer given to Golovkin isn’t a fair one.

De La Hoya had been saying that he wanted to let Canelo fill out more to slowly grow into the 160lb division. He also claimed that the Canelo-Golovkin fight needed to wait until 2017 so that it could become a bigger fight. It’s unclear how many boxing fans believed those excuses. It’s likely not many.

Canelo will be ready to fight all the middleweight champions in 2017, according to De La Hoya. Whether the Canelo-Golovkin fight happens will depend on if Golovkin accepts the deal offered to him. De La Hoya isn’t saying whether the $10 million lump sum offered to Golovkin will be increased or not. That sounds like a lot of money, but if the fight brings in over $100 million, then that might not be such a fair deal.

Golovkin’s management wants a percentage deal. That might be deal breaker if De La Hoya only wants Golovkin to accept a small lump sum compared to the hordes of cash that the fight brings in. If the fight brings in a tremendous amount of money, Golovkin would be sharing equally if Canelo gets the lion’s share of the revenue.

De La Hoya said this to ESPN’s First Take about the Canelo-Golovkin fight:

“Canelo is 26-years-old and he’s ready to take on the best,” said De La Hoya. “Canelo has to move up to 160. He can’t just fight the best fighter at 160 moving up from 154. Canelo is ready to fight Triple G in 2017, as long as Triple G signs the contract. That’s it. That’s all we’re waiting for. It’s a deal. It’s an incredible deal for both guys. I’m being fair here. I’m being fair here to the public. I’m being fair to the fans. This fight must happen in 2017, and it will happen. I can say in a court of law, and this is the truth, in 2017, we want this fight to happen,” said De La Hoya.

It’s one thing for De La Hoya to talk about him guaranteeing the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight will happen, but it’s another thing entirely for him to actually back up what he’s saying by producing the fight. There are many people in the boxing world who believe that De Hoya is only interested in protecting his golden goose Canelo from being plucked clean by Golovkin or by any of the talented fighters at 154 and 160.

De La Hoya’s actions speak louder than words. In the last two years, De La Hoya has matched Canelo against a lot of fighters that were not top level guys. In 2016, Canelo has been in the ring with Liam Smith and Amir Khan. Those are not the best guys in their respective divisions.

Khan is a welterweight, who had been knocked out badly twice going into Canelo fight. Liam Smith was not seen as being in the same class at 154 as fighters like Jermall Charlo and many other top fighters in that division. Those were soft fights for Canelo with him being put in a situation where his chances of losing were low. In 2015, Canelo fought Miguel Cotto and James Kirkland. The 5’7” Cotto was a good fighter, albeit a much smaller guy both in height and in weight than the 5’9” Canelo. The fight against Kirkland was a mismatch. Kirkland was an inactive fighter that had put on a lot of weight when he was picked out by Golden Boy for the fight against Canelo.

“Canelo wants it. I want it. The fans want it,” said De La Hoya about the Golovkin fight. “We’re offering Triple G a fair contract, a more than fair contract, an incredible contract. We’re hoping in September 2017 the fight will happen. Canelo truly is a 154 pounder. He really is. He can make the weight without any problems,” said De La Hoya.

De La Hoya is still saying that Canelo is a junior middleweight. I guess it’s no longer useful for Canelo and De La Hoya to use that same line of him not being a middleweight. If Canelo remains at 154, he’s going to be faced with the harsh reality that he’ll need to soon be facing #1 WBO Demetrius Andrade.

Even if Canelo vacated his WBO title to avoid Andrade, he would still be faced with the pressure from boxing fans for him to fight IBF junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo. That’s the fighter that is now seen by many boxing fans as being the best in the division. If Canelo stays at 154, he would either have to fight Jermall Charlo or be seen by the fans as ducking him too like the fans think he’s ducking Golovkin. Charlo is seen as the No.1 guy. Canelo would be perceived No.2 or possibly even No.3 behind Charlo’s brother Jermell Charlo, who holds down the WBC belt at 154.

The fact that Canelo isn’t being weighed by HBO Boxing any longer on the night of his fights has some fans suspicious. Why isn’t HBO weighing before he steps foot inside the ring? How much does Canelo weigh? Is he rehydrating to the mid-170s or is he rehydrating into the 180s now?

Canelo is young, and young fighters are able to dehydrate to make weight without it hurting them the way that it does with older fighters. It’s quite possible that Canelo is heavier than middleweight Golovkin on the night of his fights, which take the argument that De La Hoya has had in him not being able to fight at the full weight for the middleweight division due to him still being a 154 pounder.

“Canelo and the team have decided for 2017, he will move up to middleweight, full-fledged middleweight, and fight the middleweight champions of the world, and that’s including Triple G at 160,” said De La Hoya . That’s it. No catchweights here at Golden Boy Promotions. I guarantee it, and I will put my promotional license on the line. You have my word, and Canelo is not afraid of Triple G. In September, I hope he signs the contract, and it will happen.”
Canelo vacated his WBC middleweight title earlier this year in May when he was supposed to be defending the title against Golovkin, who was his mandatory challenger. Before Canelo vacated his WBC belt, he defended it against Khan at a catchweight of 155lbs. Canelo talked boldly after knocking Khan out in the 6th round in challenging Golovkin and inviting him inside the ring. Unfortunately, Canelo turned around and vacated his WBC title rather than take the fight against GGG.

Canelo is expected to fight in February and May of 2017 against other opponents before possibly facing Golovkin in September 2017. Golovkin is likely to be fighting in March against Daniel Jacobs. Golovkin wants to fight four times in 2017, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to be possible. Golovkin might be lucky if he fights three times. More than likely, he’ll fight just twice next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJPX9JMfe9o