By Eric Thomas: Last Saturday’s Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Saul Canelo Alvarez middleweight mega-fight war brought in an average of 726,000 viewers on HBO with a peak of 840,000 viewers on HBO Boxing.
This was a replay of their September 16 fight on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The ending of the fight was a disappointment to most boxing fans with the judges calling the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight a draw. The fans probably wouldn’t have minded the fight being scored as a draw if I really was an even contest.
It wasn’t though. Golovkin controlled the fight and looked like the better fighter throughout. Canelo looked small and he didn’t have the capability of fighting hard at all times. It looked like Canelo was running from Golovkin during the rounds. The overall impression that Canelo gave was a fighter that didn’t have the conditioning to deal with the pressure being put on him by an older, stronger and more experienced fighter.
Canelo looked like he young both mentally and physically. He wasn’t fighting like he had confidence in himself. The way the judges scored the fight, it almost looked as if Canelo was given a draw for his popularity outside of the ring rather than what he did during the fight. Canelo didn’t do much in the fight besides landing a few good shots in the first minute of the rounds, and then taking off running after that.
HBO still hasn’t released the final pay-per-view totals for the Canelo vs. Golovkin match, but there’s a lot of talk that the fight will surpass the 2 million buy mark. That would be great news for both fighters, because it would mean they would both make an incredible amount of money. Of course, they wouldn’t make Mayweather money. He’s on a different level entirely with money he makes. If the Canelo-GGG fight hits the 2 million buy mark, Golovkin would reportedly make $25 million and Canelo $35 million. That’s excellent money for both guys.
Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya has been talking about Canelo getting at least $50 million for the Triple G fight. We’ll see if that’s true. That would give Canelo his biggest pay day of his career. It would help Golovkin because it makes it crucial for Golden Boy to setup a rematch as soon as possible. They won’t want to wait to make that fight due to Golovkin only being interested in fighting the best fighters. Golovkin might fight in December to stay busy, and if so, he’ll face someone talented like WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, Jermall Charlo or Sergiy Derevyanchenko. Golovkin isn’t going to play around and fight someone easy like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. or Liam Smith.
The Canelo-GGG fight, called the, “The Draw in the Desert” on HBO, was an exciting one to watch
What’s kind of funny is the boxing fans tuned in to watch the Canelo-GGG replay last Saturday on HBO, but then they bailed for the most part immediately after that rather than sticking around to WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares defend his title against #1 WBA Luke Campbell on HBO World Championship Boxing. Linares-Campbell averaged 687,000 viewers with a peak of 726,000 viewers. Linares is a very good fighter. But his low numbers tells you that the casual fans still aren’t ready to start tuning in to watch fighters from the lightweight division yet. The 130 lb. division is not one of the more popular ones in the sport. WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia has a large following, but even he is not a big draw.
Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler sees it as being imperative that a rematch take place between Canelo and Triple G. Loeffler doesn’t want Golovkin to have to wait for ages like he had to for him to get the fight against Canelo on September 16. That was a 2-year wait for GGG.
“Canelo was under pressure from his own people to take the first fight and given the macho nature of his country he will be again,” Loeffler said to the dailymail.co.uk. “The culture is that Mexicans don’t run. Triple-G knows he really won the first fight and he would go again as early as December. Canelo says he won the fight. If he truly believes that then he should have no qualms about the rematch.”
If Canelo doesn’t want to get back inside the ring with Triple G, then Loeffler will need to act quick to get him a fight in time for December. Golovkin will literally need to get back inside the ring immediately to start training camp if he fights in December. It can’t be a rematch with Danny Jacobs, because he’s Luis Arias on November 11 on HBO in his fight of a multi-fight contract with the network. WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders would be an excellent fight for Golovkin, but I don’t think that fight is going to happen in December.
If GGG is going to fight before the end of the year, it’s going to need to be either Sergiy Derevyanchenko or Jermall Charlo. Those are both tough outs for GGG, but he’s got the talent to win those fights. Canelo needs to make the rematch with Golovkin sooner rather than later. He’s the one that has the boxing world thinking he was given a controversial draw. Canelo needs to show the fans that he’s a better fighter than what he showed against Triple G.