By Dan Ambrose: Saul Canelo Alvarez is still planning on fighting on September 14, according to Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez. Alvarez isn’t moving off his the September 14th date, which is on the Mexican Independence Day holiday.
Canelo still needs an opponent though, and it’s starting to look like it’ll be Gennady Golovkin that will get the call. That’ll be good news for DAZN, because they want to put on Canelo-GGG 3 fight. It’ll drive their subscriptions through the roof, and make them a lot of money. It’s now a question whether Canelo, 29, still has the motivation to fight Golovkin again, because he already beat last September. There’s not as much interest from the boxing public as there was going into the second fight. GGG clearly lost the rematch with Canelo last September, and he looked old in his last fight against Steve Rolls.
Canelo has a left knee problem, but it’s not bad enough for him to move off his scheduled September 14th date, according to Mike Coppinger. He doesn’t need surgery to fix the problem. He’s going to take it easy with his cardio by focusing on swimming and biking.
Alvarez’s opponent still not certain for September
Canelo’s opponent is still being worked out. There was an offer made by Golden Boy Promotions to light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev to face Canelo, but the offer was too low, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. It was less the $6.5 million offered to Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller for a fight with Anthony Joshua last month. The door isn’t completely shut for a fight between Canelo and Kovalev, but it’s not looking good right now. If it’s not Kovalev that Canelo faces next, then it’ll likely be Gennady Golovkin. It’s not that Canelo is eager to battle GGG again, it’s more of a case him being a known guy that he’s proven he can beat already. If Canelo fights Demetrius Andrade, Callum Smith or Jermall Charlo, he could lose to those guys. They’re big, powerful and talented.
DAZN wants the Canelo-GGG trilogy fight, and Canelo has to get it out of the way sooner or later. He might as well do it now. One big hint that GGG will be the guy that faces Canelo is the fact that Texas is one of the states that is being considered by Golden Boy for the Mexican superstar’s next fight. That’s a prime location that Golovkin is said to be interested in fighting Canelo. He wants the fight to take place in New York or Texas. GGG doesn’t want to go back to Las Vegas again for another fight with Canelo after failing to get a win in his two previous fights against him. Although there’s controversy surrounding the two Canelo-GGG fights, Golovkin didn’t do enough to win either of them. He Canelo outsmart him.
“Eric Gomez tells @TheAthleticBOX Canelo Alvarez is locked in on Sept. 14, fight will likely take place in Las Vegas, though Texas is a possibility. Confirmed Canelo is experiencing discomfort in left knee, but no surgery required. Will do less roadwork; swimming/biking instead,” said Mike Coppinger.
Demetrius Andrade a great option for Canelo or GGG
Canelo’s left knee problem makes it problematic for him to face WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade for his next fight on September 14. Andrade called out Canelo last Saturday night following his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision win over challenger Maciej Sulecki in Providence, Rhode Island. Andrade moved all night long in keeping Sulecki from landing any of his shots. With his bad left knee, Canelo isn’t going to want to chase Andrade around the ring for 12 rounds trying to corner him to land shots. If asked, Canelo will have a good excuse to use why he’s not fighting Andrade. He can tell the boxing media that he’s got a knee problem, and he doesn’t want to chase Andrade the entire fight. GGG doesn’t have a knee problem, so there’s no excuse for why he’s not fighting him.
Alvarez would be showing loads of courage in taking on Andrade if he can’t get Kovalev, but he probably won’t agree to fight him. It would be hard fight for Canelo, because he would have to force himself to fight in a way that he hasn’t in a long time. Andrade is similar to Erislandy Lara, and Canelo had all he could handle against the Cuban fighter five years ago in 2014.
Alvarez will likely tell DAZN that he’s not willing to take the fight with Andrade at this time. Andrade’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing can lobby DAZN chairman John Skipper to help make a fight with Golovkin. If Canelo doesn’t fight Golovkin, then Andrade would be the logical choice for the Kazakh to face. He needs a title, and Andrade has the WBO belt that he can fight for. It’s going to look bad if both Canelo and Golovkin elect not to fight Andrade, since all three of them are with DAZN.
The company isn’t paying Canelo and GGG tons of money to watch them fight guys like Rocky Fielding and Steve Rolls. They want them to fight each other. If not Canelo or GGG, somebody has to face Andrade. It’s starting to look odd that neither of these stars are facing him. Granted, Andrade has a difficult style to deal with, but Canelo and Golovkin are supposed to be the best fighters in the middleweight division. If they’re truly the best, they’re expected to solve Andrade riddle. They need to think of Andrade as a math equation they need to solve. It’s look that neither of these stars are trying to figure out how to beat Andrade.
Jermall Charlo wants Canelo fight
Jermall Charlo, the WBC champion, is another fighter that should be in the equation for Canelo’s next fight, but he’s probably not. Charlo’s name hasn’t been mentioned at all in terms of a potential opponent for Canelo. It would be good for Canelo to fight Charlo right now, because Jermall complained this past week that he was ducked by him. A lot of boxing fans think Canelo and Golovkin have been ducking Charlo for a long time. It’s difficult not to believe that, because neither of them has shown the slightest bit of interest in wanting to fight Charlo. For fans, it’s hard for them to understand why Canelo and Golovkin wouldn’t want to fight the undefeated Charlo. He’s clearly among the best fighters in the 160 pound division today.