By Sean Jones: Gennady Golovkin is still slowly but surely negotiating a multi-fight deal with DAZN, but it’s not expected to get done soon. Although there’s been a number of news sites that have stated that Golovkin’s deal with DAZN is close to being finalized, that’s NOT the case, according to ESPN. The negotiations are “moving along at it’s continued snail pace,” says a source speaking to ESPN.com. “Nothing is imminent.”
It’s not known what the sticking part of the negotiations are, but it’s got to be a fairly big it to be dragging out this long.
There’s talk that GGG Promotions fighters would be given dates to fight on DAZN as part of Golovkin’s deal. Whether that’s something that is slowing down the negotiations is unclear. One would think that the contract amount would be the obvious thing that would make it difficult to sign Golovkin after the monstrous contract that Canelo was given.
If GGG feels that he should been given wins in both fights with Canelo, he probably wouldn’t like the idea of DAZN offering him a smaller. Canelo is still young though, so it’s not all that surprising that he was offered a five year deal with DAZN. Offering the soon to be 37-year-old GGG a similar deal for the same amount of years would involve some risk on DAZN’s part if Golovkin started going downhill suddenly in losing all of his fights with them.
GGG will still probably wind up with DAZN, since they’ve got Canelo and Danny Jacobs already signed to their platform. Jacobs isn’t in the same league as Canelo or GGG in terms of popularity, but he’s still well known, and there would be a lot of interest from boxing fans in seeing Golovkin face him again. Those are two good fights for Golovkin if he signs with DAZN. A lesser fight for Golovkin would be against the southpaw Demetrius Andrade.
The one guy that would add a lot to the group of middleweights signed with DAZN is Jermall Charlo. If he were to sign with DAZN, they would have the best middleweights in the division by far. Charlo is with Premier Boxing Champions and he fights on SHOWTIME. That’s not likely to change.
It’s believed that if Golovkin does sign with DAZN, he’ll be facing Saul Canelo Alvarez this September in a trilogy fight. As far as Golovkin’s first fight of his rumored three-fight deal, there’s no word who that would be. Golovkin would unlikely challenge WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in his first fight of his three-fight deal, because that’s not a good match-up for GGG with him coming off of a long layoff since his last fight in September against Canelo.
Golovkin already had talks with ESPN and SHOWTIME, but nothing happened there. If Golovkin signed with ESPN, his biggest fight would be Rob Brant, and that would probably be a mismatch. If Golovkin signs with PBC, he would be looking at fighting Jermall Charlo, Jermell Charlo and Jarrett Hurd. Those would be good fights for GGG, but just not in the same class as what he could get if he signs with DAZN.
Golovkin would likely do well against Andrade, but it’s not a good fight for GGG with him returning from a layoff. Golovkin would have fought already if he was still signed with HBO, but they stopped broadcasting boxing, and that sent a lot of fighters like Canelo, GGG and Daniel Jacobs adrift. Canelo and Jacobs have been signed with DAZN. Golovkin is the last one that still hasn’t been signed. What makes it potentially more difficult to get Gennady to sign is the big $365 million deal Canelo was given. Whatever Golovkin is offered by DAZN is going to be compared to the deal Canelo was given, and that could make it hard to get him to sign. With the controversy involved in the two fights between Canelo and GGG, as well as the positive test for clenbuterol for Alvarez last year, it’s understandable
If he inks with DAZN, Golovkin will fight Canelo in September, as long as Alvarez beats Jacobs on May 4 in their fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s somewhat possible that Alvarez will still face GGG in September if he losses to Jacobs, but not likely. Canelo is too proud to walk away from a loss to Jacobs without using his negotiating muscle to arrange an immediate rematch. It would also depend on how badly the 5’8″ Canelo loses to the 5’11 1/2″ Jacobs.
If Canelo is just too small, and is obliterated by Jacobs, then there be some hesitation on his and his promoters at Golden Boy’s part in making a second fight with the New York right away. It might be better for Canelo to move on in that case, let Jacobs age a little more, before facing him again at a later date. Jacobs is currently 32-years-old and Canelo 28, so it’s not going to be as easy to age him like some boxing fans believe Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions did in choosing not to fight GGG for the first time until 2017, when he was 35. Golovkin will be turning 37 on April 8. So he’ll have had to wait an entire year for his third fight with Canelo. It’s become a trend with them now. Golovkin didn’t get the second fight with Canelo until 12 months passed from their first fight in September 2017.
What would be a problem potentially is if the Golovkin negotiations drag out to August or September. If that happens, then Golovkin will have to wait until 2020 before he can face Canelo in a trilogy fight. There will still be interest from boxing fans in seeing the two fighters face each other, but it might not be as much interest. It’s not a good idea for Golovkin to stay inactive for a long period of time at his age, and with him coming off of a loss to Canelo. The fans are forgetting what actually took place in the fight. Some fans are magnifying Canelo’s win, thinking it was a wipe out instead of a questionable decision. It’s in DAZN’s best interest to get Golovkin signed as fast as they can so they can have Canelo fight him again to bring in the subscribers. Canelo’s last fight against Rocky Fielding likely didn’t interest a lot of boxing fans to subscribe in high numbers. Canelo needs to be facing GGG to bring in the subscribers. It would also help if Canelo’s fight with Jacobs doesn’t have a controversial ending. Canelo can’t keep being involved in questionable decisions that go his way.