By Mark Eisner: Saul Canelo Alvarez and IBF mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko are close to a deal for a fight in the fall, according to Dan Rafael. A purse bid that was previously scheduled for Tuesday afternoon was postponed for the Canelo-Derevyanchenko fight in order for the negotiations to continue.
The purse bid was supposed to have taken place at the IBF’s headquarters in Springfield, New Jersey, but it’s been postponed until this Friday. It’ll be up to Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions whether they can put together a deal with Derevyanchenko’s promoter Lou DiBella to make this fight happen.
Fans not interested in Canelo vs. Derevyanchenko fight
There are already boxing fans complaining about this fight without it even being inked. Fans believe that the 33-year-old Derevyanchenko is a soft touch, and not in the same league as Canelo. Derevyanchenko came close to beating Daniel Jacobs last October in losing a 12 round split decision in Brooklyn New York.
Derevyanchenko came within an eyelash of defeating Jacobs in losing by the scores 115-112, 115-112 for Jacobs, and 114-113 for Derevyanchenko. Jacobs knocked Sergiy down in the first round. Following that disappointing loss, Derevyanchenko came back to defeat Jack Culcay by a 12 round unanimous decision on April 13 in an IBF middleweight title eliminator. The win for Derevyancheno made him Canelo’s IBF mandatory challenger. Shortly after that, the IBF ordered Canelo and Derevyanchenko to face each other.
The hardcore boxing fans don’t like the idea that Derevyanchenko is getting another quick title shot after losing to Jacobs in a failed attempt to capture the vacant IBF 160 pound title last October. Derevyanchenko has only had to win one fight against Culcay to given another world title shot. Some fans feel that the IBF needs to let other fighters get a crack at their title rather than giving Derevyanchenko repeated chances. Seeing the same fighter get repeated chances for the IBF title looks odd to some boxing fans.
DAZN will need to approve Derevyanchenko as Canelo’s opponent
DAZN wants Canelo to face Gennady Golovkin next in a trilogy fight. The streaming company recently signed GGG to a six-fight, nine-figure contract. Golovkin, 37, took on an unknown fighter in Steve Rolls in his first fight of his six-fight contract last June. However, Canelo is reportedly not interested in fighting GGG in his next fight.
If GGG is forced to take another fight before his trilogy match with Alvarez, DAZN won’t be getting great value for the money they’re paying the Kazakh star unless he faces a good opponent this time. Derevyanchenko is a better opponent than Rocky Fielding, the fighter that Canelo defeated on DAZN last December, but he’s still not well known with the casual boxing fans in the United States.
With Derevyanchenko not being a huge name, there’ s been a lot of speculation whether Canelo would vacate his IBF title rather than use up one of his valuable fights on his 11-fight, $365 million contract with DAZN defending against Derevyanchenko. It’s a fight that does very little for DAZN unfortunately. There likely won’t be a great deal of new subscribers for a Canelo-Derevyanchenko fight compared to if the Mexican star were to face GGG or Sergey Kovalev.
Canelo not vacating IBF title
It was believed by many that Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) would vacate his IBF middleweight title after the International Boxing Federation ordered him to defend it against #1 IBF Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KOs) recently. If a deal can’t be made between the two fighters, Canelo will either be stripped of his IBF title or he’ll vacate it. One thing that Derevyanchenko has in his favor in getting the fight is the 29-year-old Alvarez’s desire unify the 160 pound division. He currently holds the IBF, WBA and WBC belts.
The only title not in Canelo’s grasp at the moment is the World Boxing Organization strap held by Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade. Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions had been hoping former middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin would face Andrade to win the title from him. Canelo would then face Gennady in a trilogy fight in May of 2020 with all four 160 pound titles on the line. However, Golovkin hasn’t given any indication that he’ll be challenging Andrade for his WBO belt. There’s been talk of Golovkin facing unbeaten Jaime Munguia next on September 14 on DAZN. The 22-year-old Munguia holds the WBO junior middleweight title, but he would be moving up in weight
Canelo won’t be fighting on September 14
The Canelo vs. Derevyanchenko fight won’t take place until October or November, if at all. Canelo has already given up his previously scheduled September 14 date. That’s an important fight date, as it’s on the Mexican Independence Day holiday weekend, and a lot of boxing fans will be tuning in to watch the sport. Golovkin is expected to take the September 14 date for himself.
Canelo recently made this statement about not fighting on September 14 this year:
“Those are my dates. However, as a world champion in multiple weight classes, I also have the responsibility of delivering the most exciting and competitive fights possible.
That’s why Golden Boy and my team have decided to postpone the date in order to do right by my fans by promoting the best fight possible and with the best opponent possible.”
Canelo dealing with a knee injury
It’s rumored that Canelo has a right knee injury that made it difficult for him to fight on his normal September date. There’s no word whether the Mexican star plans on having his injured right knee cleaned up with some minor surgery before his next fight. It would make sense for Canelo to have a procedure done if need be. He’s been wearing a knee brace for a while now on his right knee.
Golden Boy Promotions recently attempted to negotiate a fight between Canelo and WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. However, the offer wasn’t big enough to get an agreement from Kovalev’s side. There’s still a chance that Canelo and Kovalev can restart the negotiations for a fight in December. Kovalev has a title defense he needs to get out of the way against his WBO mandatory Anthony Yarde on August 24.