By Aragon Garcia: Canelo Alvarez and promoters at Golden Boy Promotions are still working on setting up the Mexican superstar’s next fight on May 2. With the other fighters asking for big money and/or more time to get ready for the Canelo fight, it’s not been easy for Alvarez to find an opponent to fill this date.
Canelo (53-1-1, 36 KOs) was interested in potentially fighting Callum Smith, but the fight couldn’t happen due to the British fighter reportedly not being happy with the purse offered to him.
With Canelo’s last two opponents Sergey Kovalev and Danny Jacobs both getting $12 million, it’s created unrealistic expectations. When other fighters negotiate for a fight with the superstar, they want big money as well.
Saunders the frontrunner for Canelo fight
IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant took himself out of the running for the fight because he wanted more time to rest. Billy Joe Saunders is now the frontrunner, but the negotiations with him are moving slowly. It’s not a certainty that Canelo will be facing him. The Canelo-Saunders negotiations are said to be close to being finalized.
As Canelo has risen to the face of boxing, it’s become increasingly more difficult for him to get his important fights negotiated. Even the less important fights aren’t easy to negotiate due to the purse requirements being asked of Canelo.
The promoters want more money for their fighters, and they aren’t happy with the clauses in the contract. But thus far, it’s been working for Canelo during his career. It’s just part of the process.
As the A-side fighter, Canelo feels he’s earned the right to call the shots through 15 years of hard work in the sport. Canelo says the other fighters want “the moon and the stars” when negotiating with him.
“We all go through that and right now I am in this position and it has to be respected,” Canelo said to ESPN Deportes. “I won it on the basis of…so they have to respect (the process) and that’s the way it is. Even if you want to go the other way, that’s right, and that’s how it will be”
Canelo had to give in negotiations with Mayweather
It’s hard for some high-level fighters to handle being the B-side when negotiating with Canelo. You can argue that some of them have an inflated sense of entitlement. They haven’t accomplished the same things Canelo has during their careers, and yet they still resist the process.
Earlier in Canelo’s career, he had to give in the negotiations to get fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto. Canelo took the mature approach to the negotiations in giving those fighters what they wanted so that he could make the fights happen. Had Canelo been stubborn and hard-headed during the negotiations, he would have never got the opportunity to face those two stars before they retired.
Canelo started his training camp on Thursday for his May 2 fight in Las Vegas. Whether it’s Saunders or whoever, Canelo will be ready.