By Jim Dower: Oscar De La Hoya says he’s wish Gennady Golovkin luck in his next fight against IBF mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko 12-0, 10 KOs) because he’s taking the Saul Canelo Alvarez train and moving on to a possible fight against Danny Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders or Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan for September 15.
De La Hoya isn’t interested in giving Golovkin a 50-50 equal purse for a rematch against Canelo, so he’s going to have his Mexican star move on to fight Jacobs, Saunders or O’Sullivan. The name that De La Hoya seems to be mentioning the most right now is Jacobs (34-2, 29 KOs) in connect with Canelo’s next fight. That could be the guy that De La Hoya feels will give Canelo the most respect for his next match on HBO PPV on the 15th of September.
”@GGGBoxing, good luck with Sergiy Derevyanchenko, who’s 11-0, and your IBF mandatory,” De La Hoya said on his social media. ”The train has moved on and going after Danny Jacobs, [Billy Joe] Saunders, @Spike O’Sullivan,” De La Hoya added.
It would be in Golden Boy’s best interest to give GGG the 50-50 deal that he’s asking for, because Canelo is the one that tested positive for clenbuterol, and Golovkin already missed out on his December date because of him. There was also the canceled May 5 fight because of Canelo’s positive tests for PEDs. With everything that Golovkin has gone through due to Canelo, you can perfectly understand why he would rate a 50-50 percentage split.
The controversy over the scoring of the first GGG-Canelo fight hurts Canelo, because he’s the one that was seen as being given a gift by the judges in Las Vegas.
It’s unknown why De La Hoya mentions O’Sullivan, 33, in the same sentence as Daniel Jacobs and Billy Joe Saunders. O’Sullivan’s name doesn’t belong with that group, as he’s beaten no one ever, and he’s already been easily beaten by Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr. The fact that O’Sullivan (28-2, 20 KOs) was trounced by Saunders by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in July 2013 should be enough reason not to include his name in the list of opponents for Canelo’s next fight.
If Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler mentioned O’Sullivan as a possible opponent for his next fight, he would be given a lot of heat from the boxing fans. Hopefully, O’Sullivan is not who Canelo is matched up against next. For Canelo’s sake, he needs to be put in against a better quality opponent than O’Sullivan, given his two positive tests for clenbuterol and his controversial draw against GGG last September.
If Golovkin can’t get the fight with Canelo, he’ll obviously fight the unbeaten Derevyanchenko in order to keep his IBF middleweight title. That fight is due by August 3, so Golovkin is going to need to start training camp soon to get ready for it. Golovkin will receive a lot of props from fans if he defends against Derevyanchenko, because it’s a tough fight on paper. If Golovkin faces Derevyanchenko next, then he’ll probably need to make another defense against his WBC mandatory Jermall Charlo after that. That’s if Canelo doesn’t fight him after the Derevyanchenko fight.
If Golovkin gets past Charlo, then he’ll have his WBA mandatory due against Daniel Jacobs. Those are potentially three very hard fights for Golovkin in a row against Derevyanchenko, Charlo and Jacobs. Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) was supposed to be GGG’s WBC mandatory challenger, but he was removed from the World Boxing Council’s rankings after he failed to enroll in VADA testing. Last week, Canelo finally signed up for the VADA testing. and the WBC announce that they would be putting him back in their rankings. But as of Saturday, they still haven’t done that. Jacobs is ranked No1 with them.
There are some boxing fans that believe that Golovkin will have a really tough time against the 2012 Ukrainian Olympian Derevyanchenko. I don’t think that’s the case. Derevyanchenko, but he’s not the blue chip prospect that some think he is. Derevyanchenko was dominated in the 2008 Olympics in losing to Emilio Correa Jr. (Cuba) by an 18-4 score. That was a very one-sided fight. Correa Jr. ended up losing to James DeGale in the finals of the Olympics by a 16-14 score. Derevyanchenko was one of the easier fights for Correa Jr. Derevyanchenko did well in the World Series of Boxing competition, but he was beaten soundly by Brian Castano 3-0 in the 2012-2013 season. The guys that Derevyanchenko did beat in the competition were obscure fighters.
It’s possible that the Canelo-Golovkin fight can still be negotiated. It will just require some give on Canelo or GGG’s part in terms of the purse split. Golovkin wanting more money for the rematch with Canelo could stem from the Golden Boy’s stars 2 positive tests for clenbuterol, and way that he pulled out of their fight last May. Golovkin wasn’t happy that he wasn’t allowed to fight last December, because Golden Boy wanted him to wait until the rematch with Canelo in May. That was a lost payday for Golovkin with him sitting inactive for 8 consecutive months because Canelo wanted to rest until May. It’s unclear how much money Golovkin would have made had he fought last December.
If Golovkin knew that Canelo was going to test positive twice for clenbuterol and pull out of their May 5 fight, then he surely would have fought last December instead of sitting and waiting for a fight that never happened.
Canelo’s last fight against Golovkin ended up controversy with the judges scoring it a 12 round draw. Golovkin thought he won, as did the boxing fans. This was Canelo’s third controversial fight of his career. His victories over Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout were also quite questionable.
In theory, it helps Canelo and Golden Boy to wait for as long as possible to fight the 36-year-old GGG in order to age him as much as possible. The problem with that is the longer Canelo waits on the Golovkin rematch, the more pressure he’s going to have to fight Jacobs, Jermall Charlo, Derevyanchenko and Billy Joe Saunders. Canelo can’t dodge those fighters and just face beatable middleweights like O’Sullivan, David Lemieux, Jason Quigley, Hassan N’Dam and Martin Murray. The boxing fans are going to want to see Canelo fight the best, and if he doesn’t do that, he’ll be seen as a pampered fighter who is a fake. But if Canelo does face the best, there’s a good chance he’ll lose. The rematch with Golovkin won’t be worth anything if Canelo gets beaten or if he continues to be involved in controversial decisions that are favorable to him.
De La Hoya saying to RingTV that Golovkin “doesn’t want to fight Canelo” and that he’s “scared” of him, it doesn’t seem believable. With that went down in the previous fight between Canelo and Golovkin, the fans aren’t going to buy what De La Hoya is saying. It doesn’t pass the laugh test. De La Hoya should just tell it like it is by saying that Golden Boy doesn’t wish to give Golovkin a 50-50 purse split for the Canelo rematch. That’s all that needs to be said. All the other stuff about Golovkin being afraid and how De la Hoya wishes him ‘good luck’ against Derevyanchenko is a waste of time.