By Sean Jones: Oscar De La Hoya says the rematch between Saul Canelo Alvarez and Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin isn’t close to being done for May 5. Despite what Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez is saying about the Canelo-Golovkin fight being close to being finalized, De La Hoya says it’s nowhere close, and that he’s waiting on GGG to agree to the rematch.
It appears that De La Hoya might not be happy with something that Golovkin is not agreeing with in the negotiations. It could be anything. It’s possible that they’re stuck on the money split or the venue. You can understand from Golovkin’s perspective why he would have an issue with the negotiations if he’s expected to fight in Las Vegas, Nevada again or if he has to take the same purse split as last time.
Golovkin was seen as the winner of the last fight against Canelo by many boxing fans for the September 16 fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The judges scored it a 12 round draw. A win would have given Golovkin a better position in the negotiations for the rematch. A draw basically keeps things in the same position as the first fight negotiations. It’s as if Canelo and Golovkin never fought.
“Canelo and vs. GGG Boxing is not done and not close to being done considering reports,” said De La Hoya on his Twitter on Friday. ”I promise all the fans it will get done soon if and when @GGGBoxing agrees to the rematch,” said De La Hoya.
This could be a strategy by De La Hoya to pressure Golovkin to make concessions in the negotiations. By saying the rematch isn’t close to being done and putting it on Golovkin, De La Hoya looks he wants the Kazakhstan fighter to agree to something. De La Hoya is putting it on IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) as holding up the negotiations for the Canelo rematch. It’s unclear why De La Hoya and Eric Gomez of Golden Boy are not on the same page with their messages about the negotiations for the Canelo vs. Gennady fight.
It’s possible that something new came out that Golovkin isn’t pleased with or maybe the negotiations never were as close to being finalized as Gomez said this week. The fact that De La Hoya is Tweeting his unhappiness about the negotiations between Canelo and Golovkin suggests that things are not going as well as Gomez made it seem on Thursday of this week. If De La Hoya is insisting that Golovkin go back to Las Vegas to fight at the same venue that he fought at least time against Canelo, it’s going to put a lot of pressure on him. Would De La Hoya want to go back to the same venue that he fought at after his controversial loss to Felix Trinidad? I doubt it.
Looking at things from Golovkin’s perspective, you can see a lot of things that would lead to him not giving in to the wishes of De La Hoya for the Canelo rematch. Fighting in Las Vegas again is not a good deal for Triple G. After the way the last fight was scored between him and Canelo, you can understand why Golovkin would be reluctant to go back to the same city and same venue as the last fight. If it was Canelo who had a bad experience with judging in a particular city and venue, it’s doubtful that he would readily agree to go back to the same place. Even if the money was better in going to back to the same venue, it’s likely that Canelo wouldn’t want to go back to the same place. As far as the purse split, you could definitely understand why Golovkin might want a better deal than he got last time. With the boxing public viewing Golovkin was the winner of the previous Canelo fight, it would be reasonable for Golovkin to want a better cut of the purse for the rematch.
Gomez revealed that there won’t be a rematch clause in the contract for the second fight. That’s really not a big deal, because the rematch clause only worked in Canelo’s favor despite him being the challenger and not the champion. You don’t see that too often. A rematch clause working in the challenger’s favor fighting a 4-belt champion in IBF, IBO, WBA and WBC middleweight champion Golovkin. The fact that there’s no rematch clause for the Canelo-Golovkin rematch just means that a third fight will be determined on whether the two fighters want to face each other again. With the negotiations the way they are now, it might not be doable for them to face each other a third time. Right now, they might not even face each other a second time.
Golden Boy and Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler are going to have to get the negotiations completed soon if they want to take advantage of the time they have to build the May 5th rematch up to make it just as big if not bigger than the last one. There’s still 4 months to go before May 5. There’s a lot of time to market the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight to make it a huge success on HBO PPV. It’s going to have to be a big success for Golovkin to have given up a fight while waiting 8 months for the rematch.
Golovkin would have fought in December if he didn’t have the possibility of a rematch with Canelo. Whatever money Golovkin will make in the rematch, it won’t be as much as you think when subtract the fight date that he missed out on in December. If Golovkin had been able to take the December date, as well as the May 5th rematch with Canelo, then he’d be making huge money. But whatever Golovkin gets for the second fight, it’s still not going to be as much as you think it would be if he didn’t have to give up his December date. Golovkin used up 8 months of his career waiting on Canelo to face him in the May 5 rematch. If the fight doesn’t take place, then Golovkin will have nothing to show for all that time he gave up waiting on Canelo.
The 27-year-old Canelo is in a strong position to force Golovkin to agree to whatever he wants him to in the negotiations. Canelo has already had the 35-year-old Golovkin wait 2 years for the first fight last September. Canelo is now making Golovkin wait 8 months for the May 5th fight. If Golovkin doesn’t agree to whatever Canelo and Golden Boy wants him in the negotiations, they can simply force him to wait longer and age him to the extent where he’s old and no longer cogent. Canelo can do that with Golovkin. He can’t do that with the dangerous young guys like Daniel Jacobs and Jermall Charlo. They’re too close to the same age as him. What Canelo can do with them is avoid them until they agree to whatever negotiation terms he wants. In Golovkin’s case, he’s got age bearing down on him and he has to make a decision whether to stand his ground or give in to Canelo and Golden Boy in the negotiations.