Hearn wants Canelo’s September 14 date alongside GGG

By Boxing News - 07/18/2019 - Comments

Image: Hearn wants Canelo's September 14 date alongside GGG

By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn says he wants to move some his top fighters into Saul Canelo Alvarez’s vacated September 14 date alongside Gennady Golovkin on DAZN. Canelo Alvarez moved off the prestigious September 14 date, because his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions were unable to setup a fight for him.

Hearn states that he wants to put former unified cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, and unbeaten lightweight contender Devin Haney on the September 14 date in separate fights. Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs) would be the main attraction. What’s interesting is Hearn isn’t pushing to have Golovkin fight World Boxing Organization middleweight champion Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade for some reason. Hearn mentions that he had Andrade and Callum Smith both on standby for Canelo to fight on the September 14 date if he was in need of an opponent.

Obviously, there was no interest on Canelo’s part in facing Andrade for the September date. But the fact that Hearn isn’t campaigning to have Andrade face GGG, suggests that the wily promoter is holding out to save ‘Boo Boo’ for a fight against Canelo at some point.

Hearn talks Canelo, Kovalev and GGG

“I think they want to fight Kovalev, and get that deal done,” said Hearn to Boxing Social. “DAZN wanted them to fight GGG. They [Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo] didn’t want that fight. So they decided not to fight. We have [Demetrius] Andrade. We have Callum Smith standing by for that fight [against Canelo], but they want to fight in October or November. It’s pretty simple. They couldn’t get the opponent Canelo wanted, so they decided to move the date. They’re probably disappointed, because that’s their weekend [September 14],” said Hearn.

It’s academic that Golden Boy Promotions wanted WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev for Canelo to fight on September 14, but they were unable to put a deal together. It would have likely cost too much for Golden Boy to get Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KOs) for the September fight, because he would be paying his mandatory Anthony Yarde a hefty step aside fee in order to take the fight with Canelo in front of him.

With Golden Boy waiting until after Kovalev defends against Yarde on August 24, they can have more time to put together a deal with him for the Canelo fight. It makes sense. Canelo is intrigued with the idea of winning a world title at 175, because it would make him a four division world champion. Kovalev isn’t the best of the light heavyweight champions, but that doesn’t seem to bother

Hearn wants to package Usyk and Haney on Golovkin card

“Is that a date we’re looking to takeover? Quite possibly,” said Hearn in discussing the idea of Matchroom Boxing taking Canelo’s September 14 date. “I’d like to do something with Gennady Golovkin on that date, possibly [Oleksandr] Usyk and Devin Haney. A big show. Historically, that’s a weekend you stay away from, because Canelo has got it now. Now he doesn’t. Perhaps we’ll jump in and do something,” said Hearn.

It would be a smart move by Hearn to include Usyk (16-0, 12 KOs) and lightweight contender Devin Haney (22-0, 14 KOs) on the same card as former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Golovkin on DAZN on September 14. There will be a lot of boxing fans tuning in to see GGG fight on that card, and that’ll help Haney and Usyk get some badly needed attention from the casual boxing fans.

Only eight weeks to put together September 14 card says Hearn

“It’s eight weeks from now. It’s not ideal, and that’s why they [Golden Boy and Canelo] call their decision, because they were running out of time. Anyone that’s doing a show that night is running out of time,” said Hearn.

With so little time left before the September 14 date, Hearn won’t be able to find much in the way of opponents for Usyk and Haney. But it won’t matter if they’re packaged on the same card as Golovkin. The casual boxing fans will tune in to see Golovkin, and they’ll see Haney and Usyk in likely showcase fights on the night. It’s a win-win for Hearn and his Matchroom promotion.

Haney and Usyk would get seen by a lot of U.S fans without Hearn needing to do the heavy lifting of finding quality opponents for them to fight. For all intents and purposes, Usyk and Haney would be riding Golovkin’s coattails in the same way Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez used to when he frequently fought on GGG’s undercards on HBO.

GGG needs an opponent for September 14

Golovkin doesn’t have an opponent yet for the September 14 date, but Jaime Munguia is rumored to be a possible option for him to fight. The hardcore boxing fans want to see GGG challenge WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade (28-0, 17 KOs) for his title. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, because Hearn would be talking nonstop about the news. Despite the huge upset for Golovkin if he were to face Andrade and beat him, he’s not likely going to take a risky fight against him.

There’s too much money for GGG to make in a fight with Canelo in 2020 for Golovkin to take a risky fight against Andrade. Before Golovkin’s fights with Daniel Jacobs and Canelo Alvarez, he likely would have fought Andrade without thinking twice about it. But after his struggling performances against Jacobs and Canelo, GGG is playing it safe with his career. We saw that in Golovkin’s last fight with him facing an unknown fighter in Steve Rolls on June 8.

One of these fighters would be ideal for Golovkin:

  • Demetrius Andrade
  • Sergiy Derevyanchenko
  • Callum Smith
  • Ryota Murata

It’s very likely that Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler is interested in putting together a fight with Murata for September 14 date, but that’s unlikely to happen. Murata is with Top Rank Boxing, and fights on ESPN+. They’re not going to make a fight with GGG. Derevyanchenko makes a lot of sense for Golovkin, because the two could potentially fight for the IBF title if Canelo doesn’t defend against Sergiy. The IBF has already ordered Canelo to face Derevyanchenko. If Canelo vacates the IBF title, then Golovkin can fight for it.

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