By Juan Flores: Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez says the rematch between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin is close to being done for May 5 on Cinco de Mayo.
The fight will be televised on HBO pay-per-view like last time. Gomez believes it’s possible that the Canelo-GGG rematch could get done as early as this week if everything goes right. Both sides are giving concessions to get the fight done. Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) has obviously let Golden Boy know he wants the Golovkin rematch next. This is good news that Canelo has made up his mind about taking the rematch next rather than putting it off until September of next year or possibly longer.
With the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight close to being finalized, it gives the boxing fans hope that there can be closure with this match. The fans want the fight to be resolved already after the controversial 12 round draw between the 2 fighters last time they fought. Some fans thought Canelo deserved the win, whereas other fans believed Golovkin did enough and should have been given the victory. Canelo fought well enough to win the fight 8 rounds to 4 score. Canelo started and finished the fight strong in winning the first 3 and the last 3 rounds. In rounds 4 through 8, Canelo appeared to win at least 2 of the rounds to get the victory or should have been given the victory.
“It takes time,” Gomez told ESPN.com. “We are close. I hope soon, (maybe) this week.”
Possibly one of the reasons why it’s easier this time to put together the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight compared to last time is the parameters of the negotiations are already in place.
Golovkin has to fight better in the rematch for him to be given a win. He’s not going to be able to walk away with his middleweight titles still in his possession if he’s just going to box Canelo for 12 rounds. Golovkin has to do more than that to beat the No.1 superstar in boxing.
Since the first Canelo-GGG fight was scored as a 12 round draw on September 16, not much needs to be changed in the negotiations. Golovkin didn’t win the fight, so he can’t ask for more money than last time. If Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler were to hold out for more, Canelo could look to face the winner of the Billy Joe Saunders vs. David Lemieux fight and let GGG stew for a while. The more time Golovkin and Loeffler have to sit and think about the Canelo fight, the easier it’ll be to put the rematch together. But, it doesn’t look like Golovkin and Loeffler are going to be a problem. They want the fight badly enough as it is for them not to create any issues that would hold up the rematch.
”We are working on concessions on both sides,” Loeffler said to ESPN.com. “It clearly makes the most sense to do it on May 5 and that’s what we’re focused on.”
May 5th is the perfect date for the Canelo vs. Goovkin 2 rematch. It takes place on Cinco de Mayo, and that means a lot of boxing fans are going to be celebrating the holiday and they’ll want to purchase the fight. The previous was a disappointment to many fans, considering Golovkin didn’t come to battle. Golovkin came to box, and play it safe for 12 rounds.
Golovkin wanted to swim without getting his feet wet. Golovkin did not want to brawl with Canelo, and that made the fight boring for a lot of boxing fans. It also made the rounds difficult to score because it put the judges in a tough situation where they needed to make a choose of whether to give the rounds to Golovkin for his weak jabs or give the rounds to Canelo for him landing the harder, cleaner shots and for being the aggressor in the fight. 2 of the judges felt Golovkin didn’t do enough to rate the win. One judge scored it 114-114, and another had I 118-110 for Canelo. The final judge had it 115-113 for Golovkin.
The venue for the second Canelo-Golovkin fight is down to 3 cities: New York, Las Vegas and Arlington, Texas. Loeffler wants the rematch to take place in New York or Arlington. Golden Boy appears to be leaning in the direction of New York.
If Canelo and Golovkin fight to another 12 round draw, it would be a good idea for both fighters to go their separate ways and focus on fighting other fighters. If the judges can’t determine a winner between them, then it means that the two are too closely matched for the judges to decide who wins and who loses. There’s nothing wrong with that. Golovkin will be fine if he fails to determine he’s the better fighter. He can turn around and fight Danny Jacobs, Jermall Charlo or Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Former super flyweight champion Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez (46-2, 38 KOs) will be fighting on the undercard against an opponent still to be determined. Gonzalez has lost his last 2 fights to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Gonzalez won’t be fighting him again anytime soon. That would be a bad idea for Golovkin.