Canelo Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev negotiations sputtering out

By Boxing News - 07/02/2019 - Comments

Image: Canelo Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev negotiations sputtering out

By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotion’ offer to WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev for a fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez is reportedly too low for him to agree to the fight, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. As a result, Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KOs) plans on moving ahead with his title defense against Anthony Yarde (18-0, 17 KOs) for August. That match-up for Kovalev is considered a winnable one for him.

The low offer from Golden Boy is said to be less money than the offer made to Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller for him to fight former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua last month on June 1. Miller was offered $6.5 million.

“Golden Boy has made an offer to Krusher Kovalev’s promoter, Main Events, for Kovalev to defend his light heavyweight title in September, a source familiar with the offer told @SInow. The offer was “extremely low” — less than what Jarrell Miller was scheduled to make against AJ,” said Mannix @SIChrisMannix.

If Golden Boy is going to sweeten the offer to Kovalev, they’re going to need to do it this week, because that’s the deadline.  Kovalev will be moving on to get ready for his fight against Yarde. Kovalev’s co-promoter Bob Arum says that there’s an agreement for Yarde to step aside to let Canelo face Sergey. However, the offer from Golden Boy isn’t enough at this time to get Kovalev to agree to the fight.

Canelo obviously would like to challenge Kovalev for his WBO 175 pound title, because it would be a big positive for his career if he beats him. Even if Canelo loses the fight, he still comes out ahead for the courage that he would be showing in moving up two weight classes to fight Kovalev at 175. Kovalev isn’t considered to be the best fighter in the light heavyweight division, but he’s among the best. He’s arguably more popular than the top fighters in the division.

Will Golden Boy sweeten the offer to Kovalev?

Presuming that Golden Boy doesn’t sweeten the deal for Kovalev, then Canelo will have to make a decision to fight one of these guys for his next bout: Gennady Golovkin, Demetrius Andrade or Callum Smith. Canelo will make GGG a very happy camper if he picks him out, because he’s chomping at the bit to fight him in a trilogy match. Golovkin can’t wait to fight Canelo again. GGG may never beat Canelo, but he’ll gladly keep fighting him as often as he can. It’s safe to say that if Golovkin fails to beat Canelo in the third fight, the boxing fans will let no longer want to see these guys fight. It’s already time for them to move on. The fans want to see them in with different opposition already.

Here are the facts about Kovalev:

– Age: 36-years-old

– 3 defeats in last 5 fights

– Best career wins: Bernard Hopkins, Eleider Alvarez & Jean Pascal

The real question is how much would Kovalev bring to the table in terms of new subscriptions for DAZN in a fight against Canelo Alvarez? Since this fight wouldn’t be on pay-per-view, Golden Boy Promotions would be going by the the projected ratings and subscribers that the 36-year-old Kovalev would bring in.

“Kovalev is up against a deadline to make a deal to defend his title against Anthony Yarde — he has to sign for it this week — and with Golden Boy starting this low, the feeling right now is there will not be time to work out a deal. Kovalev plans on going ahead with his title defense against mandatory Anthony Yarde for September. Once that fight is out of the way, Kovalev will look to restart negotiations for a fight against Canelo,” said Mannix.

Jacobs made big money fighting Canelo

Former IBF middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs is said to have made eight figures for his recent fight against Canelo Alvarez on May 4 on DAZN. With Jacobs making that kind of money for a fight against Canelo, it obviously would look bad for Kovalev to get less than the $6.5 million that ‘Big Baby’ Miller was offered for a fight with Joshua, if the quoted offer from Golden Boy is an accurate one. However, Jacobs is signed with DAZN, so that’s something you have to factor in as well. It has to help that Jacobs is with DAZN. Kovalev is co-promoted by Top Rank Boxing and Main Events, and fights on ESPN.

“Miller was set to earn $6.5 million for the Joshua assignment, so that would indeed be “extremely low.” Jacobs made eight figures for his May bout with Canelo,” said Mike Coppinger on his Twitter about the offer made to Kovalev from Golden Boy.