By Barry Holbrook: Eddie Hearn wants to get the third fight done between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin for September. The two middleweight champions last fought each other two years ago in 2018, and there’s a big demand from the boxing public as well as DAZN to see them battle in a trilogy fight.
Canelo-Golovkin III is one of the biggest fights in boxing right, and easily the most compelling at 160. Hearn believes that Canelo, GGG, and DAZN all want the fight to happen.
Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) has a mandatory defense for his IBF middleweight title coming up in June against Kamil Szeremeta, but after that Hearn wants to set up the long-anticipated bout against superstar Canelo for September 12. DAZN wants that fight to get made, so it’s just a matter of negotiating it between them.
Canelo vs. Golovkin trilogy must be made for September
“He’s going to fight his mandatory in June [Golovkin], but the fight that must be made is the trilogy fight,” said Hearn to beIN SPORTS USA on the Canelo Alvarez vs. GGG trilogy. “It’s one of the biggest fights in sports. Gennadiy Golovkin wants that fight badly.
Hearn is waiting to see if Canelo will face WBO super middleweight champion, Billy Joe Saunders, on May 2. That would be a unification fight between them, and there’s interest from boxing fans in seeing the two. Hearn also promotes Saunders, which makes that fight worthwhile for him to put together. We can’t compare the Canelo-Saunders match-up with a third Canelo vs. Golovkin mega-fight. It’s apples and oranges.
There’s far more interest from boxing fans in a third Canelo vs Golovkin fight, but it’s arguably the harder fight to make. Canelo knows how tough Golovkin is from their two previous fights in 2017 and 2018. Alvarez and Golovkin fought to a 12 round draw in September 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Golovkin won the IBF middleweight title last October in beating Sergiy Derevyanchenko by a close 12 round decision on DAZN. That performance by GGG showed that it’s crucial that Canelo face the 37-year-old Kazakhstan fighter before it gets too late. Golovkin is turning 38 in April, and it won’t be long before he begins losing to the non-stars in the middleweight division.
DAZN wants Canelo-Golovkin III
“I believe DAZN and even Canelo Alvarez wants that fight. But first things first, we need to see if Canelo fights in May before we decide who he’s going to fight in September. But I know from a DAZN perspective, they would like the May and then the GGG fight in September,” said Hearn.
Ideally, it would be better for Canelo and Golovkin to fight on May 2, as that would avoid a potential loss by either guy against their next opponents. Canelo isn’t in a big hurry to face Golovkin a third time. With Canelo’s popularity, he’s got a lot of interesting options available to him for matches.
Canelo and Golovkin fought in a rematch in 2018 with Canelo winning a close 12 round majority decision over Golovkin. The boxing public is still split in who they felt deserved the victory in that fight. While some fans like the way Canelo was able to walk Golovkin down and back him up in the first six rounds, others noted that Golovkin took over the contest in the second half using his jab.
It was a fight that arguably more suited to being scored as a draw than the first Canelo-Golovkin match in 2017. Golovkin looked like the better fighter of the two in that match. Canelo’s star power makes him hard to beat by decision, as fighters like Golovkin, Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara have found out. Even Floyd Mayweather Jr. wasn’t able to get all three judges in agreement that he deserved the victory in his fight against Canelo in 2013.
Canelo-GGG 3 won’t mean much if Golovkin isn’t in his prime
“It’s important that the fight happens in my opinion. Gennadiy Golovkin, we talk about Benjamin Button, said, Hearn. “He’s getting to a stage in his career where he’s in his prime, but we don’t want to wait too long. We don’t want Pacquiao vs. Mayweather where both guys might not be quite in their prime. So hopefully in September, we’ll see Canelo against GGG,” said Hearn.
If you listen to what fans are saying, Golovkin is already NO longer in his prime. He didn’t look great in his rematch with Canelo, and he had problems beating Steve Rolls and Derevyanchenko. What fans saw in those fights was Golovkin’s ability to pull the trigger on his shots having been compromised.
Although there were openings for GGG to let his hands go, he failed to pull the trigger on his shots. Golovkin’s new trainer Johnathon Banks, who replaced his long-time coach Abel Sanchez, spoke about wanting him to throw nonstop punches in his fights. Regrettably, Golovkin didn’t do that against Rolls or Derevyanchenko, and those made those confrontations more difficult than they should have been for him.
If Canelo waits until 2021 to face Golovkin in a third contest, he may be too late. Golovkin should be fine for his title defense against Kamil Szeremeta in June, but after that, he’s going to have pressure on him to fight a good opponent. Boxing fans will want to see Golovkin give Derevyanchenko a rematch. Besides their fight last September being thrilling to watch, the outcome was highly controversial. For the first time in Golovkin’s career, he was booed at ringside after the match ended. The fans didn’t just boo a little. They booed Golovkin from the moment the fight results were announced until he left the ring.
