By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez will be taking a “significant pay-cut” for his next fight, says Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez. They’re looking for an opponent that is affordable for him to fight on September 12. Gomez is eyeing a couple of fighters that he thinks might work out for Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 K.O.s).
Sergiy Derevyanchenko’s name has been mentioned a lot recently as an opinion for Canelo, but Gomez says he could face a British fighter. That would be either John Ryder or Callum Smith. It would be hard to promote a fight between Canelo and Ryder, given the fact John is coming off of a loss.
Derevyanchenko is also coming off of a defeat in having lost recently to Gennady Golovkin. But that fight was seen as a robbery, and Derevyanchenko looked sensational. The way that Derevyanchenko performed against GGG, he was worlds better than how Ryder looked against Callum.
“We are not living in the world that we lived in last year,” said Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez to skysports.com. “Canelo will be taking a significant pay-cut.
“Anybody willing to come to the table and be reasonable, he will fight. We are not discarding any of the top guys.”
Canelo needs someone fresh
“I’d like somebody fresh, somebody that’s a live body that would view it as an opportunity of a lifetime,” said Lou DiBella to Seconds Out in discussing who Canelo Alvarez should fight next. “I would prefer, for example, a John Ryder to an Anthony Dirrell coming off of a knockout loss.
“I respect Anthony Dirrell. He’s a good fighter, but I just think coming off of a knockout loss coming against a guy that might be pound-for-pound, I don’t see that as particularly a big fight.
“Like [David] Lemieux at 160, come on. Lemieux has zero chance at all [against Canelo]. I’d like to see somebody fresh. I would prefer to see somebody fresh, a 168 pound top guy, somebody fresh than I would want to see with no chance whatsoever.
“Look, it’s not the easiest time to make matches. There are economic considerations. There are all kinds of stuff operating, but if you’re going to use that card and play that Canelo card at DAZN, then you need to get a legit fight.
“You need to get a fight that boxing fans will say, ‘Hey, I’d like to see that, you know? I’m hoping they’ll get more creative than the Lemieux’s and the Anthony Dirrell’s. I’m hoping they pull something out of the hat,” said DiBella.
It would be great for Canelo to pick someone “fresh,” but if it means that he faces John Ryder, David Lemieux, Anthony Dirrell, or Billy Joe Saunders. Those are stale choices.
DiBella prefers Ryder for Canelo
“I get that it’s not the easiest thing to do, but with Canelo, you got a guy that can fight at any weight really between the mid-160s and 175,” said DiBella. “They can fight at middleweight, super middleweight or light heavyweight.
“That’s one of the reasons why I think he’s [Canelo] pound-for-pound by the way because he can fight in that gamut of weight. But I’d like to see something. Even if I see Canelo as the likely winner, I’d rather see somebody fresh get the opportunity if It’s Lemieux.
“Dirrell or Ryder, I would probably on the same theory I gave you. I think Ryder got robbed in that big fight [against Callum Smith]. I thought he won, and I think he’s fresh. And I think you’d get 120% out of him.
“I don’t think he’s going to win, but I don’t think most people are going to win against Canelo Alvarez. I don’t think that’s the standard. I’ve heard talk of Derevyanchenko. I’d heard the Jermall Charlo fight is more likely, but coming off that fight with GGG, Derevyanchenko earned his stripes.
“Out of the three names there, I would prefer Ryder out of the three. I mean, if Anthony was coming off of a good fight and not one that he got clipped [by David Benavidez], I might feel a little bit differently. I do respect him.
“And I respect him as a person and as a fighter, but at 168, I think Canelo is really strong. A guy [Dirrell] that is coming off of a knockout loss, I don’t love the match-up,” said DiBella.
John Ryder will be a right choice if DAZN wants to push its global platform in the U.K. The British boxing fans would love that Canelo is fighting Ryder. However, the Americans would like, ‘What’s a Ryder? Forget that. I’m not going to bother with that mess.’
Canelo picking Ryder would be the equivalent of sparring repellent on the U.S. DAZN subscribers, who would likely ignore the fight and chose not to reactivate their suspended accounts. It’s going to take a quality opponent that Americans have heard of for them to reactivate their DAZN accounts.
Picking Ryder wouldn’t result in U.S. fans wanting to subscribe to DAZN to see Canelo wipe out the light-hitting British fighter.
Derevyanchenko can fight Charlo
“Lemieux, why? Before they go with Lemieux, I’d like to see if they’re going to go down to 160, I’d rather see [Jaime] Munguia than Lemieux,” said DiBella. “I think the paydays are going to be high in either case,” DiBella said about Derevyanchenko getting a big payday against Canelo or Jermall Charlo.
“I think there would be a marginal difference for Canelo. Still, I also think at this particular moment in time with no audiences that they’re [Golden Boy Promotions] not looking to break the bank and get into a bidding war fr an opponent.
“So I don’t think the difference economically will be that significant as it would have been outside of a pandemic. So that being the case, Sergiy is a terrific fighter. He’s got a lot of abilities, and he’s really good fighter, but I think he’s a natural 160.
“I don’t even think he’s a big 160. And I think he’s an averaged sized middleweight. I think he’s a lot better off at 160 than at 168, and I view Charlo and Sergiy at 160 as a much more even money kind of fight than Canelo at 168. So absent the money being hugely different, and I don’t think it would be in this circumstance,” continued DiBella.
Canelo-Derevyanchenko needs to marinate
“I think his [Derevyanchenko] instinct is he prefers Charlo is the right instinct,” said DiBella. “Here’s the other thing. He [Derevyanchenko] made significant money in his last fight [against Golovkin]. He’s going to make significant money in this fight.
“If he beats Charlo, how big is a fight with Canelo? If he’s able to go out there and beat Charlo, Derevyanchenko-Canelo, I think would be bigger than a third GGG fight. So I think it’s a good educated risk.
“I understand why his manager and the fighter seems to be leaning towards the Charlo direction,” said DiBella.
The problem with Derevyanchenko potentially turning down a bigger payday against Canelo is he could lose to WBC champ Jermall Charlo. That’s a fight that the 34-year-old Derevyanchenko will likely be the underdog against the bigger, stronger, and faster Charlo.
While it’s believed that Charlo is the more winnable fight for Derevyanchenko than Canelo, it’s still going to be a tough one for him to win. Charlo is younger than him at 30, and he’s not coming off of a grueling war with Gennadiy Golovkin.
Derevyanchenko took a lot of punishment in his 12 round unanimous decision loss to GGG on October 5 last year. Sergiy had significant bruising around both eyes, along with cuts. Although Derevyanchenko has had a long time to recover from that fight, it’s still difficult for him t take on a guy like Charlo in his first fight back.
If it was a sure thing that Derevyanchenko would beat Charlo, then he should take the fight. A win over Charlo will set-up a bigger money fight with Canelo in 2021 that could be bigger than the Canelo-Golovkin clashes.