By Sean Jones: IBF middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) is at the top of the list for potential opponents for WBA/WBC champion Saul Canelo Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) to fight on May 4 next year if he beats WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight Rocky Fielding (27-1, 15 KOs) this Saturday night in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York. Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya says he personally wants Jacobs, 31, to be the one that he fights next May.
As far as former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin goes, De La Hoya says Golden Boy Promotions will make the decision when a third fight between the Kazakhstan fighter and Canelo will take place. De La Hoya says that they now call the shots with GGG due to Canelo having beaten him in his last fight on September 15 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Hell, yeah, he’s in line,” De La Hoya said to TMZ about Daniel Jacobs being a potential option for Canelo. “Look, Daniel Jacobs, [Billy Joe Saunders, the Charlo brothers [Jermall & Jermell], they’re all going to get it. It’s not a problem. Canelo fights the best, that’s it. The top of my list? I wouldn’t mind seeing him [Canelo] with Daniel Jacobs. I love Daniel Jacobs. He’s a phenomenal fighter. He’s a great fighter,” De La Hoya said.
Jacobs just won GGG’s IBF title that he vacated this year. Jacobs defeated Sergiy Derevyanchenko by a 12 round split decision last October to win the vacant IBF title.
Canelo is gaining a reputation in a hurry of being involved in controversial decisions. His two fights with GGG, as well as his fights against Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout were all bouts that he could have lost. A lot of boxing fans think Canelo lost all four of those fights. Three of those four fights took place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
De La Hoya says that GGG, Billy Joe Saunders, Jacobs and the Charlo brothers are all options for Canelo’s May 4 fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“It’s to be announced,” De La Hoya said about the May 4 fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I haven’t even spoken to GGG or his handlers. I have that date for Canelo. That’s it. Is he going to fight GGG again? Yeah, whenever we say he’s going to fight him again. We call the shots now. Canelo beat him. So if he’s going to fight him, it’s going to be when we say. No talk whatsoever,” De La Hoya said.
De La Hoya saying that Golden Boy and Canelo will be making the decision when the GGG third fight takes place sounds like they’re going to wait and a year or so and age Golovkin some more. You can argue the two Canelo vs. Golovkin fights were too close, and there was too much of a chance that Alvarez could have lost the matches with a different set of judges working them.
It’s interesting that Golden Boy Promotions will be bringing Canelo back to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for his May 4 fight. With all the controversy that’s taken place with the two Canelo-GGG fights that were staged at the T-Mobile Arena, you would think that Golden Boy would want to select a different venue in order not to give the boxing public the opinion that Canelo relies on fighting there to avoid losing. Of course, Canelo’s fight this Saturday night against Rocky Fielding is taking place outside of Las Vegas in New York at Madison Square Garden, but that’s a fight against a very beatable guy. Fielding is unquestionably a fighter that wouldn’t be a world champion if he had to beat Callum Smith, Gilberto Ramirez, David Benavidez or Jose Uzcategui in order to win a title in this writer’s opinion. Going back to the same venue as Canelo’s two controversial fights against GGG is a bad look for him.
The World Boxing Council is going to order Canelo to face his mandatory Jermall Charlo (27-0, 21 KOs) at some point in the near future. He’s been waiting a year now for the WBC to order the fight. Will Canlo vacate his WBC title when the Charlo fight is ordered?
