By Tim Royner: WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman likes the idea of the Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs. Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin rematch taking place in Mexico City, Mexico. According to ES News Reporting, Sulaiman views Mexico City being the ‘perfect spot for Canelo-Golovkin rematch.’
The September 16th fight between Canelo and Golovkin was scored a controversial 12 round draw. It’s believed by many fans that Golovkin was robbed of a victory by the judges that worked the fight. The scoring didn’t make sense in the eyes of a lot of fans.
In a move second-guessed by a lot of people, Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler gave the green light for the first Canelo vs. Gokovkin fight to take place in Las Vegas. This was not seen as a smart move by Loeffler, given that Canelo had meant a lot to Vegas in the past in fighting in that city 7 times previously in big money fights. In so doing, Canelo had helped bring a lot of money to Vegas in his many fights in that city. In contrast, Golovkin had never fought in Las Vegas before facing Canelo there. There was a huge imbalance between the 2 middleweights when it came to Las Vegas. Canelo being given a 12 round draw by the Nevada State Athletic Commission assigned judges wasn’t a surprise to some fans, as they thought it was logical conclusion of Golovkin’s management agreeing to fight Canelo in Las Vegas instead of drawing the line by refusing to fight in a city that had been helped by the Mexican star so many times in the past.
It’s unclear whether Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) will be agreeable to fighting Canelo in front of a large crowd of his own Mexican boxing fans in a big stadium. That would potentially place Triple G at a disadvantage as far as the fans. There would certainly be a lot of fans rooting for Golovkin, but you would have to assume that only a tiny portion of the people coming to see the fight would be supporting him.
Golden Boy president Eric Gomez revealed recently that he thinks he can have the Canelo-Golovkin rematch finalized soon. If that is the case, then should be news about the fight shortly by Golden Boy Promotions. They’ll be the one that will likely announce to the boxing public rather than Golovkin’s promoters at K2.
Having the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight take place in Mexico City wouldn’t just hurt Golovkin. It could hurt Canelo even more Mexico City is at high altitude, and that could cause problems for Canelo’s already poor cardio. Canelo was huffing and puffing in his first fight with Golovkin on September 16 in Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s not high altitude. Canelo couldn’t fight hard for more than 1 minute of every round. It was often just the first minute of each round in which Canelo was able to fight hard. He would then exhaust himself and be ineffective for the last 2 minutes of the rounds.
The positives for Golovkin of fighting Canelo in Mexico City are as follows:
• Bigger crowd in a stadium fight: Golovkin can potentially make more money depending on the pricing of the tickets.
• A show of courage by GGG to fight in front of a huge pro-Canelo crowd
• Fans would boo Canelo if he fought defensively like he did in the first fight. Canelo’s Mexican fans would put pressure on him to fight Golovkin instead of running from him again. If Canelo slugs with Golovkin, the chances are high that he’ll wear down and get knocked out
The negatives of Golovkin fighting Canelo in Mexico City:
• Golovkin could get arguably robbed worse than last time
• Canelo will fight harder due to his Mexican fans cheering him the entire time
• Fewer Golovkin fans would be present to see the fight