By Sean Jones: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya says Saul Canlo Alvarez will sign up with the World Boxing Council VADA 365 ‘clean drug’ program as soon as his next fight is signed. De La Hoya hopes that Canelo’s next fight will be against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, but if not, it’s his loss.
This move by Canelo to delay testing until he signs for his next fight could be construed as a sign that he doesn’t want to fight Golovkin again. Canelo knows that GGG wants him to enroll in a testing program during his 6-month suspension.
Canelo doing the opposite of what Golovkin wants by not enrolling in testing looks to some like he doesn’t want to fight. This looks to some like Canelo is openly defying Golovkin and all the boxing fans that want him to sign up for drug testing. He’s showing them that he won’t do what they want him to do, even if it makes him look suspicious. It’s not a wise move on Canelo’s part, and it makes you wonder what he’s trying to accomplish by not being tested. It took Canelo all these years to become a star, and now he’s hurting himself by not showing the fans that he’s a clean fighter by enrolling in drug testing.
”Sure, as soon as he signs the fight, he’s on the program,” De La Hoya said to TMZ.com when asked if Canelo will be signing up with the WBC’s VADA testing program.
De La Hoya has pretty much let Golovkin know with this comment that Canelo will not be enrolling in the random drug testing that he wanted for him to agree to a second fight with him. There’s no point now in Golovkin waiting around any longer for the rematch. If the concession that he wants from Canelo is for him to begin random drug testing, then De La Hoya’s above comment is a signal that he’s not going to get his way with this request.
Now that De La Hoya has spelled it out to Golovkin, he might as well move on and forget about Canelo unless he changes his mind and he’s fine with the Mexican star not being drug tested. There are plenty of fighters for Golovkin to defend his titles against in the middleweight division starting with WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders. That’s the best Golovkin needs for him to finish unifying the division. Golovkin has wanted that fight for a long time, and now there’s no reason for him to delay making the fight.
De La Hoya’s message to Golovkin and the fans about Canelo’s drug test is a signal that it’s time for GGG to move on. It’s not the end of the road for Golovkin. It just means that there won’t be a rematch between him and Canelo unless he drops his demands for him to be drug tested. That’s hard demand to drop obviously for GGG, because it’s his health that is potentially on the line if Canelo is using is clenbuterol during the months that he’s not being tested for drugs. Golovkin wanted Canelo to agree to the testing, but De La Hoya has now let him know that it’s not happening.
This is not a good move for Canelo in terms of his reputation in boxing. The 27-year-old Golden Boy star tested positive twice for clenbuterol on February 17 and February 20 while training for his May 5 rematch with Golovkin. The positives led to him pulling out of the fight, and he Nevada State Athletic Commission suspending him for 6 months.
Canelo won’t start the drug testing until his next fight is signed. De La Hoya didn’t say why Canelo is holding back on the drug testing. It could be that he wants to stay consistent to the testing he was doing in the past. Canelo has never enrolled in random drug testing that covered the entire year, and it looks like he’s staying consistent with him just being tested during training camp.
”In the meantime. @GGGBoxing making 3million and @Canelo making 40 million without you. #sighnthecontract #scared #CaneloGGG2 #stopcrying,” De La Hoya said on Twitter to Golovkin.
It looks like De La Hoya wants Golovkin to stop asking for Canelo to be drug tested and instead just sign for a rematch. It sounds like De La Hoya is saying, ‘It’s my way or the highway’ to GGG. You have to wonder if De La Hoya would take the same stance if Golovkin was the one that tested positive twice for clenbuterol rather than Canelo. Would De La Hoya be so cavalier about Golovkin not being tested before signing for the rematch or would he tell him that he needs to sign up for random drug testing or else he doesn’t get the rematch?
Why Canelo is delaying the start of testing until he signs for his next fight is unknown. Only Canelo knows the answer to that, and he’s not saying. It’s certainly a self-defeating move on his part. Being tested during his suspension would be a wise move on his part, since he needs to rebuild his reputation in the sport.
A lot of fans are suspicious of Canelo now, and it’s up to him to show those fans that he’s not a drug cheat, and he wasn’t trying to get an edge against Golovkin when he tested positive for clenbuterol. Canelo says the positive tests were from him eating contaminated meat. He should be showing people that he’s not using by enrolling with the WBC’s VADA program for random testing.
If Golovkin wants the rematch with Canelo badly enough, then perhaps he’ll put up with him not being tested until he signs the contract for the September 15 fight. Golovkin won’t make as much money if he doesn’t fight Canelo again. Golovkin’s paydays will be smaller in fighting the top contenders in the middleweight division. There’s no getting around that. Golovkin is not going to make the gigantic money that he can make fighting Canelo. If he’s not confident that Canelo is a clean fighter though due to him not enrolling in the WBC’s random drug testing program, then it might be a good idea for him to walk away and go in another direction.
Assuming that the Canelo-GGG rivalry is now over, Canelo will now have to show that he belongs at middleweight by taking on the top fighters from the list below:
• Sergiy Derevyanchenko
• Daniel Jacobs
• Jermall Charlo
• Demerius Andrade
• Billy Joe Saunders
These are the best guys at 160 when you remove Golovkin from the list. The 27-year-old Canelo is too young not to fight these guys. He’s got too much time left for him to bypass all of those fighters, and spend time fighting the softer opponents that Golden Boy is lining up for him. I’m talking about these guys:
• Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan
• David Lemieux
Those two are no considered to be in the upper echelon of the middleweight division. It’s thought that Golden Boy will match Canelo against O’Sullivan in September. That’s almost a given. Lemieux is someone that still needs a good win for him to be an option for Canelo to fight in May of next year. It’s not a good idea for Canelo to fight Lemieux and O’Sullivan though, because they’re viewed as so badly flawed by the boxing fans that it’s going to look like he’s cherry-picking soft jobs to avoid the talented fighters.
Canelo can’t afford to do this. To be seen as the best in the 160lb weight class, you’ve to be willing to fight the best. If Canelo loses, he can always move back down to 154 if he can still make the weight for that division. That’s probably a better division for Canelo anyway, because he’s really short at 5’9” for the middleweight division.
We saw that Canelo’s lack of reach made him helpless in the Golovkin fight when he was jabbing him from the outside. That’s why Canelo kept running from Triple G, because he was getting jabbed to pieces and it wasn’t even competitive. Just looking at the fight again, Canelo should have lost every round from 3 to 11. Canelo won the 12th, but he was routed in rounds 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
Canelo’s reach was too short, and his stamina absolutely horrible. For the judges to give Canelo a draw, it was an embarrassment in my opinion. It made them look bad in scoring a one-sided fight like that as a draw. It’s clear from watching the Canelo-GGG fight that Canelo needs to move back down to 154, because he’s too short. What’s also clear is that Canelo needs to work on his cardio in a major way. That needs to be his priority for the remainder of his career. If Canelo wants to improve his game, he needs to get on the track and work on building up his stamina. In doing so, Canelo will lose muscle weight and have an easier time getting back down to 154 where he belongs. Canelo won’t last long if he stays at middleweight. His career will implode as soon as he faces Charlo, Derevyanchenko, Saunders or Jacobs. It’s better that Canelo move back down to 154 before he suffers those embarrassing losses.