By Sean Jones: Gennady Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) will be making the big decision by the end of 2018 on which broadcast network that he’ll be signing a contract with to replace his previous contract with HBO, according to ESPN.
GGG’s promoter Tom Loeffler will be meeting with him this week to discuss the offers from DAZN and ESPN. There’s a possibility that the talented Kazakhstan fighter could make up his mind as early as this week which of the streaming services he’ll be signing up with. Loeffler will let GGG know the positives and negatives that go along with signing with DAZN and ESPN. The negatives are obvious. If Golovkin signs with one of them, he’ll close himself off potentially with many of the fighters that compete on the other streaming service. Of course, if Saul Canelo Alvarez has desire to ever fight GGG again, then it will obvious make his decision a little easier to which streaming service to sign with.
Having Canelo signed with DAZN is a good move by the streaming service, but it won’t be a big deal if they’re not able to sign GGG as well. To get the maximum benefit of having a superstar like Canelo signed with DAZN, the company needs to ink GGG so that he has someone to fight. There’s really no interest from the U.S boxing fans in seeing Canelo beat up on a paper champion like Rocky Fielding or fight guys like David Lemieux and Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan.
It’s important that DAZN signs Golovkin, as that would enable a third fight between him and Canelo Alvarez to take place. Having those two face each other a third and possibly even a fourth time would bring in lot of subscribers to DAZN. Golovkin is interested in fighting Canelo, but it’s unclear whether the feelings are mutual. Canelo took a lot of punishment in the second fight with GGG. Although Canelo’s face didn’t look badly marked up, he was badly stunned two occasions in the 10th and 11th rounds of that fight. Golovkin might just finish the job in a third fight if given the chance. The way Golovkin sees it, he’s still unbeaten with a 40-0 record after his two fights with Canelo at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Golovkin’s promoter Loeffler is even calling him the “people’s champion” due to many boxing fans still seeing him as the unbeaten middleweight champion. Given the controversy surrounding the two fights with Canelo and the likelihood that he and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions will likely insist on a third fight taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada, it might be better for GGG to move on and focus on fighting guys where he has a chance of being given a decision win after he beats them. If GGG doesn’t need the money, he could do better to face fighters where he doesn’t need to worry about being arguably robbed by the judges, and he doesn’t need to wonder whether they’ve been using performance enhancing substances. Canelo tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol while training for his rematch with GGG last February. While Canelo later blamed the positive tests on him eating tainted beef in Mexico, he continues to be viewed with suspicion by a lot of boxing fans, who point out that his physique looks different compared to the way it looked before he fought GGG twice.
Golovkin will be fighting next in the first half of 2019 in either March or April, according to Loeffler. There’s no word about the opponent for GGG, but his trainer Abel Sanchez says WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Rob Brant is a guy he’s interested in having him face in early 2019.
The choices for the former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Golovkin are said to be down to DAZN and ESPN. Both of those sports subscription services have made offers to the 36-year-old Golovkin, It’s now a question of which one works for him.
If Golovkin signs with DAZN, it would make a third fight with Saul Canelo Alvarez much easier to make, since he recently signed a huge 11-fight, 5-year $365 million deal with the streaming service. Given that Golovkin was seen as being robbed twice in his two fights against Canelo, it would be humbling for him to sign a contract with DAZN that is for less money than the Mexican star. That might make it hard for Triple G to agree to a deal with DAZN if they’re not offering close to the same kind of money that Canelo was given. It’s unclear what offer amount DAZN has made to the 2004 Olympian from Kazakhstan, but one would expect that his ego might be hurt if it’s considerably less than the highly publicized contract that was given the the 28-year-old Golden Boy Promotions star Canelo Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs).
If Golovkin signs with ESPN, he would be working with the Top Rank promotional company. There would be interesting fights for GGG against the likes of WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Rob Brant and former WBA 160 lb champion Ryota Murata.
“ESPN and DAZN are very interested in Gennady and in the running,” GGG’s promoter Tom Loeffler said to ESPN.com. “Both have a big budget for GGG.”
Gennady had been under contract with HBO for many years, but the broadcast network decided recently to discontinue televising boxing. It was a controversial move, as they had a massive amount of fans that subscribed to the network so that they could watch high level boxing. HBO’s decision to get out of the business has sent U.S fans in the direction of DAZN and ESPN. The fans that don’t mind paying for both have subscribed to DAZN and ESPN’s streaming service, but may of them have chosen one. For that reason, it makes it important for GGG to pick the a broadcast partner that gives him his best chance of being seen by as many boxing fans as possible in his fights inside the United States. It’s well known that Matchroom Boxing USA promoter Eddie Hearn would like for Golovkin to sign with DAZN, as it would make him available to the top middleweights that he’s signed with his stable. Hearn recently signed Demetrius Andrade and Daniel Jacobs. Hearn wants to sign WBC interim middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, but he’s had no luck in getting him to agree to a deal. As mentioned already, Canelo signed with DAZN and will be with them for the next five years. However, the reluctance that Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions are showing towards putting together a third fight with GGG suggests that it might not help the Kazakhstan fighter if he signs with DAZN. If there’s no interest on Canelo and Golden Boy’s part in a third fight with GGG, then the only fights out there for him in signing with that streaming service would be Jacobs, Andrade, David Lemieux, Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan, Rocky Fielding and Callum Smith. Fielding and Smith are both super middleweights.
Canelo Alvarez will be making his first fight with DAZN next month against WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding (27-1, 15 KOs) on December 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Golovkin and Loeffler will likely be watching Canelo’s fight with Fielding to see how many viewers it brings in. The fact that the fight will be shown free on DAZN on December 15 will skew the numbers, making it impossible to know how many subscribers the fight would pull in if the boxing fans had to pay the $10 subscription fee to sign up with the network. Canelo will obviously need to fight better level opposition than Fielding for him to bring in a massive amount of subscribers to DAZN. It’s unknown whether DAZN has an opt out period for their 5-year contract with Canelo if he fails to bring in the subscribers that they thought he would. Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez believes that the $365 million, 5-year contract that Canelo was given by DAZN isn’t guaranteed. He think Canelo will need to bring in a lot of subscribers to DAZN for him to see the end of his contract to receive the entire $365 million. Obviously, fighting guys like Fielding and then possibly David Lemieux in his next fight after that in May of next year is the wrong way for Canelo to try and bring in subscribers to DAZN. He needs to fight the best at 160, and that means GGG, Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, Billy Joe Saunders, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Rob Brant. If Canelo is going to fight super middleweights, then he should be facing Callum Smith, Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, Jose Uzcategui and David Benavidez.
Canelo’s controversial 12 round majority decision victory over GGG on September 15 of this year may make it difficult to put together a third fight between them. Canelo and Golden Boy promotions will likely use that victory as an excuse to get a bigger cut of the revenue for a third fight with GGG. So instead of Golovkin getting a 50-50 or 55-45 deal, he might be given a take it or leave it 65-35 split. Whether that would be good enough for Golovkin to agree to a third fight with Canelo remains to be seen. Right now, it’s pointless to speculate, seeing that there’s no interest on Canelo’s part in facing Triple G. Canelo is quite pleased with his win over Golovkin, and he says he’s interested in other fights; one of them being his title shot against WBA ‘regular’ 168 lb champion Fielding on December 15.
Loeffler plans on making it a package deal with Golovkin to have his ‘SuperFly’ series streamed on the same streaming service that he signs with, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Former four division world champion and pound-for-pound king Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez would be coming along with the deal, as well as women’s welterweight world champion Celilia Braekhus. Those are two very good fighters.