De La Hoya says Canelo Alvarez will fight in September & December

By Boxing News - 05/05/2018 - Comments

Image: De La Hoya says Canelo Alvarez will fight in September & December

By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De La Hoya says Saul Canelo Alvarez will STILL fight twice this year despite his 6-month suspension for clenbuterol, and he plans on having the 27-year-old Golden Boy Promotions star fight in September and December.

De La Hoya isn’t sure whether Canelo will be fighting a rematch with middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in September. De La Hoya seems to feel that Golovkin has lost his desire to fight Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) after the hard time he had in the last three rounds of his fight with him a year ago in September.

De La Hoya states that the power of Canelo in rounds 10, 11 and 12 has GGG not wanting to fight him again. Golovkin recently said this week that there’s only a 10 percent chance of the Canelo rematch taking place in September. Golovkin’s skepticism about the rematch was about the drug testing for Canelo. Golovkin wants to see Canelo being tested, and thus far there’s nothing being said about continued testing being done for the Mexican star since early last month on April 3. It’s now May 5, and It’s unclear whether Canelo has been tested for drugs in the last 30 days. Golovkin won’t be happy if Canelo has 3 o 4 months in which he’s not tested for drugs leading up to the start of training camp for his September 15 fight.

“The last exam Canelo was put through was a hair follicle test,” Oscar De La Hoya said about Canelo. “The levels of clenbuterol are ridiculous. In terms of having Triple G talk so negatively about Canelo and putting him down all the time. I strongly feel, Triple G, those last three rounds that he felt against Canelo in Las Vegas. That power punching that he felt against Canelo, the fact that he couldn’t hurt or drop Canelo,” De La Hoya said,.

De La Hoya didn’t say anything last night about whether Canelo is being tested right now for PEDs. That’s something that the Golovkin and the boxing public are concerned about. Is Canelo NOT being drug tested during the final months of his 6-month suspension given to him by the Nevada State Athletic Commission? If not, then why isn’t Canelo being tested? If De La Hoya and Golden Boy want to prove to the fans that Canelo is a clean fighter, then he needs to be tested during the remaining months of his suspension rather than waiting until August 17 when his suspension expires for him to start testing again. The last news of Canelo being tested was April 3. If Canelo isn’t drug tested until mid-August, then that would be 4 months without him being tested for PEDs. That’s a huge gap.

There are a lot of boxing fans that feel that Canelo’s hair follicle test obviously doesn’t prove that he wasn’t using clenbuterol to gain an advantage over GGG for the first fight last September and in training for the rematch. The fans point out that Canelo’s physique looked VERY different for the fight with GGG last year. Canelo looked a lot leaner, more muscular, and had a bodybuilder appearance that he had never had before. Canelo’s body looked very different in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans. Canelo’s two positive tests for clenbuterol from last February is proof enough in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans that he was dirty, and guilty of having used clenbuterol. The excuse that he gave of having eaten contaminated beef isn’t believable in the eyes of a lot of fans, as well as GGG. He openly says he doesn’t believe Canelo’s excuse, which is why he wants to make sure that there is full testing from the months before he starts training camp.

”He [Golovkin] knows the rematch, whenever it happens, because I’m fighting Canelo in September regardless, and he’s fighting in December once again,” De La Hoya said. ”I want to keep him active. Canelo wants to fight as often as possible; whether it happens against Triple G or not, then so be it. Canelo’s train is moving forward,” De La Hoya said.

It’s assumed that Canelo will fight Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan in September if he doesn’t face Golovkin. O’Sullivan is being marketed by Golden Boy, who promotes him, and they’re clearly getting him ready as a Plan-B option for Canelo to fight in September if the GGG fight can’t get made. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler badly wants to make the rematch with Canelo, but it’ll be up to GGG whether the fight takes place. It’s not just the drug testing that could be a problem in keeping the fight from happening. It’s also the terms of the negotiations. Golovkin might want a better deal than the first fight in September of last year, because he’s perceived as the winner of that fight by the boxing public. Golovkin having to accept the same terms as the first fight gives Canelo the advantage that he arguably doesn’t deserve.

If Canelo doesn’t fight Golovkin in September or December, then his likely opponents during those months are O’Sullivan in September and David Lemieux in December. Both fighters are hard punchers and signed with Golden Boy. The casual boxing fans won’t mind seeing Canelo fight Lemieux and O’Sullivan. The hardcore fans will see those fights for what they are – soft showcase fights for Canelo. O’Sullivan and Lemieux are not seen as being core members of a small group of talented middleweights in the division. The best fighters at 160 are these guys: Billy Joe Saunders, Golovkin, Ryota Murata, Daniel Jacobs, Sergey Derevyanchenko, Canelo, Demetrius Andrade and Jermall Charlo. Those are the A-list fighters in the middleweight division. The B-list is these fighters: O’Sullivan, Lemieux, Maciej Sulecki, Martin Murray, Tureano Johnson, Willie Monroe Jr., Luis Arias and Hugo Centeno Jr.

”He’s done whatever he’s had to do to make sure and tell the public, because he knows himself, he knows,””He’s a honest and clean fighter. He knows that. He will do whatever it takes. Yes, the last thing that was done was a hair sample and guess what? He passed it with flying colors. So whatever happens in September, Canelo is going to fight regardless,” De La Hoya said.

For Canelo to show the boxing public that he’s a clean fighter, he needs to be tested for PEDs, and Golden Boy should be letting the fans know the dates of the testing and which official agency conducted the testing. It’s not good idea to have Canelo not starting his testing until August. If the general idea is to show the fans that Canelo is a clean fighter, then he needs to be tested year round instead of just during training camp for his fights.