Gennady Golovkin to fight on June 8 or 16

By Boxing News - 03/08/2019 - Comments

Image: Gennady Golovkin to fight on June 8 or 16

By Sean Jones: Gennady Golovkin’s first fight of his new three-year, nine-figure contract with DAZN will be on June 8 or 16 against an opponent and location still to be determined. A third with Saul Canelo Alvarez is expected to take place this September. The Canelo-GGG III trilogy fight may hinge on what happens in Alvarez’s upcoming unification fight against IBF Daniel Jacobs on May 4 on DAZN in Las Vegas, Nevada.

If Canelo wins that, then it’s likely he’ll wait for GGG in September. Golovkin will need to win his June fight first for the September trilogy match to take place with Alvarez.

Contrary to earlier reports that the DAZN signing of former middleweight champion Golovkin wasn’t imminent, the talented Kazakhstan fighter signed a 3-year, 6-fight contract with the streaming platform on Friday in a deal that will close out his career. How much GGG will be making as part of this three-year contract wasn’t revealed.

Golovkin will be 39 by the time he completes his six-fight deal with DAZN. That’s obviously a ripe age for a middleweight, but GGG was still fighting a very high level as of his last fight, which he lost to Canelo by a 12 round majority decision last September. If Golovkin can continue to fight at close to the same level, he’ll remain one of the top fighters in the 160 lb division right up to the moment of his retirement.

There’s no word whether GGG will be taking on WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in his first fight with DAZN, and nothing was said if there will be a trilogy match against Saul Canelo ALvarez this September. That’s the fight that the boxing public most want to see. Everything else is secondary.

The signing by DAZN of GGG ends months of speculation about the 36-year-old fighter, who was the biggest name available on the market after Canelo signed a monstrous 5-year, 11-fight, $365 million deal. It would be surprising if GGG isn’t paid a similar amount as Canelo when you break it down to per year.

There’s no word about whether the six-fight contract is guaranteed. Is there an opt out by DAZN if GGG starts losing or if he doesn’t bring in the subscribers? None of that was said. There are similar questions by fans about Canelo’s five-year contract with the platform.

Although Golovkin’s six-fight contract with DAZN is said to be taking him to the end of his career, it’s possible that he could choose to renew if he’s still fighting at a high level. We’re going to have to see whether Golovkin can maintain the level he’s at right now for the next six fights. It will depend on who he faces, how much punishment he takes, and how successful he is in his fights. Given the controversy surrounding GGG’s two fights with Canelo in terms of the judging, it’s important that Golovkin focus on changing the venue for future matches, and making sure that it doesn’t go to the scorecards. Triple G has likely learned what not to do when fighting Canelo. Namely, don’t stay on the outside jabbing him for 12 rounds. The judges weren’t impressed by jabbing Alvarez. They were more impressed with the small amount of power shots Alvarez landed in each round. Secondly, Golovkin can’t back up against Canelo. GGG did that in the second fight with Canelo in Las Vegas, and he ended up losing a 12 round majority decision.

Part of Golovkin’s new three-year deal with DAZN is to have GGG Promotions promote two fight cards per year on the platform in 2020 and 2021. This will give GGG’s promotional stable a chance to show off it’s fighters on DAZN. By that point, DAZN should have a lot more subscribers, and if Golovkin’s fighters in his GGG stable are popular and talented enough, they could pick up a large following.

Canelo and Golovkin became free agents after their September match on HBO, as the broadcast giant decided not to stay in the boxing business. Canelo was picked up by DAZN in lightning fashion with them giving him a big $365 million deal. Golovkin checked out the market, and met with all the network platforms before deciding to sign with DAZN. It was always thought that Golovkin would ultimately sign with DAZN, as that gave him the chance to fight Canelo a third time. That’s the fight that the boxing world wants to see. There’s nobody else out there for Golovkin that can attract as much interest as Canelo, and the only place to make that fight happen is on DAZN. Golovkin was given an offer with ESPN, and he was said to be close to signing it last January, but he decided not to. It’s a good thing that Golovkin didn’t. If he did, he likely wouldn’t have gotten a third fight with Canelo.

“DAZN has quickly become the new home of boxing by making the biggest events easily available to the fans,” Golovkin said. “When deciding on where I wanted to continue my career, DAZN’s global vision perfectly matched my goals. Thank you to my fans for all of the loyal support and I look forward to you joining me on DAZN.”

It was a no-brainer for GGG to sign with DAZN. After Canelo and Danny Jacobs signed with the streaming platform, it made perfectly good sense for Golovkin to follow them. Had Triple G signed with Top Rank on ESPN or Premier Boxing Champions, he would have been fighting guys like Rob Brant and Jermall Charlo. Those are good fighters, but they lack the popularity that Canelo Alvarez has going for him. Besides, GGG has revenge on his mind in wanting to fight Canelo in a third fight in order to avenge his loss to him last September. The rubber match will help even things out between them or show that Canelo is the superior fighter. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya stated that if Golovkin wins the third fight with Canelo, then they would be looking to make a fourth fight between them, as everything would be even at that point with each fighter having won one match a piece. Presumably, the fourth fight would determine who the better fighter is between them, as long it doesn’t end in controversy like the first two Canelo-Golovkin fights did.