By Sean Jones: Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions says there are no fights scheduled between Saul Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin in 2019, but when they do face each other again, GGG is getting knocked out. De La Hoya says that there’s a chance that Canelo and Golovkin could face each other as many as five times, but it’s going to require that GGG sign with DAZN for any chance of those fights taking place. Golovkin still is unsigned with his contract with HBO expired recently, and he’s being courted by ESPN/Top Rank, DAZN and Premier Boxing Champions/FOX/SHOWTIME.
Canelo, 28, will be fighting other people next year. The rumors that Canelo (50-1-2, 34 KOs) will be battling GGG in a trilogy fight on Cinco de Mayo on May 4, 2019 are false. The information was mistakenly showed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s website this week that had Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions booking the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for May 4 next year.
Canelo will be fighting WBA World super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding this Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. Canelo can’t lose this fight if he wants to keep the boxing world interested in a third fight between him and Golovkin.
De Hoya says that there won’t be a third fight between Canelo and GGG unless the former middleweight champion signs with DAZN. Canelo recently signed a 5-year, 11-fight, $365 million contract with DAZN that will lock him in with the streaming company for a long time. De La Hoya told cbssports.com that GGG needs to “come to his senses” and ink with DAZN, as that’s the only way he’s going to continue to get fights against Canelo.
De La Hoya went on to say he hopes Golovkin “comes to his senses” and signs with DAZN, noting that’s the only way another fight between them could be made.
“I strongly believe Canelo will knock him out. And if they fight for a fourth time, Canelo will win again,” De La Hoya said to cbssports.com.
It’s unknown why De La Hoya doesn’t want Canelo to fight GGG in 2019. The only thing that you can think to explain why De La Hoya wouldn’t want Canelo to fight the Kazakhstan fighter next year is a move to try and age him some more before he schedules the trilogy fight between them. A lot of boxing fans still believe Golovkin was robbed in the two fights with Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs), and they think that he’s now afraid to fight him. Canelo is still nursing a cut from his fight with GGG last September.
If Canelo doesn’t fight Golovkin in 2019, then his options aren’t so good for him. If Canelo isn’t going to fight GGG, his options for fights in 2019 will come down to these guys:
– Jermall Charlo
– David Lemieux
– Daniel Jacobs
– Rob Brant
– Demetrius Andrade
– Ryota Murata
– Jermell Charlo
– Jarrett Hurd
– Jaime Munguia
Most of those fighters are guys that Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions won’t even entertain for a second fighting. The Charlo brothers and Hurd are highly unlikely to be chosen by Golden Boy to fight Canelo. You can say the same about Murata, but not because he’s dangerous. He lost his last fight. The guys that have a serious chance of fighting Canelo are Munguia, Jacobs and Lemieux. It’s likely going to be Munguia and Lemieux that face Canelo in 2019. Lemieux would have to be viewed as the leading option for Canelo’s May 4 fight, as long as he wins his fight against Tureano Johnson this Saturday night on the undercard of Canelo-Fielding on DAZN at Madison Square Garden in New York.
GGG is on vacation, but he’ll be revealing his future plans soon about network he’ll be choosing. If De La Hoya is serious about Golovkin needing to sign with DAZN for him to fight Canelo again, then that puts him in a position where he’s going to need to sign with them for him to continue to face the Mexican star. Golovkin might not care anymore whether he faces Canelo a third time. It’ no secret that Golovkin isn’t happy with the way his two fights were scored against Canelo in Las Vegas. Further, GGG wasn’t happy about Canelo testing positive for a banned substance in clenbuterol.
GGG not knowing for sure whether Canelo was clean or not in his two fights with him obviously can’t make him too pleased at the thought of a third fight against him. If Golovkin signs with Premier Boxing Champions, he would be looking at fights against unbeaten Jermall Charlo, Jermell Charlo, Jarrett Hurd and Erislandy Lara. Signing with DAZN would put Golovkin in with Canelo, Daniel Jacobs and Jaime Munguia. Those are several good fights for GGG. He already beat Jacobs in 2017, and he came close to fight Munduia earlier this year. Golovkin would have fought Munguia if the Nevada State Athletic Commission had sanctioned the fight for last May. They rejected sanctioning the fight due to Munguia’s lack of experience at middleweight. GGG then went ahead and destroyed junior middleweight Vanes Martirosyan in California.
“He’s talked to all the parties and he’s mulling it over,” GGG’s trainer Abel Sanchez said to the latimes.com “He deciding his future, and the future is rightfully his to determine since he only has three to four years — and six to seven fights — left.”
It might be a stretch of the imagination to believe that Golovkin will be fighting for another three to four years. That would seem highly unlikely. Going from the big paydays Golovkin received against Canelo to much smaller money fights against the likes of Rob Brant, Murata, Jermall Charlo and Jarrett Hurd might be hard for him to take. It’s hard to imagine GGG sticking around the sport for long to collect $1 million paydays.
A lot of boxing fans think the reason why Golovkin failed to get wins in his two fights with Canelo was the politics in the sport. Canelo is a big money earner, and still young. It’s important that he not get beaten right now, as there’s no one available to take his place. British heavyweight Anthony Joshua isn’t a big name in the U.S, and he likely never will be. Floyd Mayweather is old and only fights MMA guys nowadays and fading guys like Manny Pacquiao. Golovkin is about to turn 37, and he’s near the end of his career. It’s not good for boxing if Canelo loses to GGG, even though fans believe he should have lost his two fights with him. There are not a lot of guys for Canelo to fight other than GGG that the boxing fans care about.
“Should there be [a third fight between GGG and Canelo]? Would there be? Absolutely!” De La Hoya said to cbssports.com. “There has to be a third fight, maybe even a fourth fight or a fifth. I sure hope so! But there is nothing for Cinco de Mayo or even for September with Golovkin.”
So if De La Hoya and Golden Boy keep Canelo away from fighting GGG in 2019, then it has to be seen as a way of aging him some more before they make the third fight. It’s still early to say whether there will be a fourth or fifth fight. The only thing that seems obvious is that Canelo and GGG will fight a third fight, as long as Golovkin signs with DAZN.