By Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez’s next opponent could be signed in the next couple of weeks, according to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya. He’s got someone in mind for his match on September 12 on DAZN, and Golden Boy is working night and day to get the deal done.
Canelo must get a live body this time because his last opponent, 36-year-old Sergey Kovalev fought like a 50-year-old last November. This time, Golden Boy Promotions needs to find someone that isn’t over-the-hill and can make it entertaining for the subscribers to DAZN.
On the subject of subscribers, Alvarez’s opponent must be someone that can move the needle in the United States. In other words, it might not help if Golden Boy picks out a British fighter for Canelo to fight.
If he’s not well-known to the casual boxing fans in the U.S, then they won’t be motivated to sign up with DAZN or reactivate their suspended accounts.
Canelo and Golden Boy have the opportunity to greatly improve DAZN’s subscriber base by picking out a popular fighter. It’s got to be someone that fans believe has a chance of beating Canelo.
De La Hoya complaining about difficulties finding Alvarez’s opponent
“We have pending meetings this week,” said De La Hoya to DAZN on the decision-making for Canelo Alvares’z next fight. “We’re working day and night to get this done, and like I said, fighters price themselves out because they don’t want to fight.
“And they price themselves out because they have advisers whispering in their ears that they’re worth more than they really are. The fact that you’re fighting Canelo doesn’t mean you should be making triple or quadruple what you’re making now, and you have to take into consideration the pandemic.
“It’s a wonderful relationship,” said De La Hoya in responding to a question on how Golden Boy Promotions is getting along with DAZN. “We’re the promoter that moves the needle for DAZN here in the USA.
“We’ve got the biggest star, and upcoming stars like Vergil Ortiz, who is fighting on July 24th on the first show back,” said De La Hoya.
OK, so it’s the advisers that are blowing it for opponents, eh? If you’re not offering Canelo’s opponents their worth, then Golden Boy is going to have problems for years to come.
The big-name talents don’t want to be paid chicken-feed to face Canelo, especially when there’s a track record of guys making massive money facing him.
Fighters don’t deserve championship money for Canelo fight
“I’ll know by the end of this week, but I’m very certain that he will,” said Oscar when asked how certain he is that Canelo will fight on September 12.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hws-4eDDchw
“DAZN wants it, I want it and Canelo wants it. I think it’s a matter of nailing down that one opponent that wants to take that chance and wants to get paid, and who is going to get paid handsomely obviously but is not going to be this fighter that thinks he deserves world championship money just because they fight Canelo.
“They have to earn it. Once we nail down an opponent like that, we have a fight. I don’t want to mention any names because each time I do, they add a zero to the negotiations.
“So I’m going to keep quiet about this. But I assure you, we will have someone in the next couple of weeks,” said De La Hoya.
What does that mean that Canelo’s opponents DON’T deserve championship money fr fighting him? De La Hoya is sounding like he does not see straight.
You can’t say that Canelo’s opponents don’t deserve championship money for them to be facing him because his previous opponents Sergey Kovalev, Daniel Jacobs, and Gennadiy Golovkin made huge bank against him.
De La Hoya frustrated
“It’s different times now, and fighters have to realize they have to take pay-cuts,” said De La Hoya. “We’re very confident we’ll have something in writing and nailed down in the next few days,” said Oscar on getting an opponent for Canelo’s September 12th fight.
“We have pending meetings with Team Canelo and his team, and we feel that we can get something done hopefully by next week. That’s what fighters don’t realize,” said De La Hoya in stating that Canelo’s opponents won’t make good money unless they beat him.
“They have to beat the champion before they get champion money. A lot of fighters are being whispered in their ear by people that don’t want to make these big fights happen.
“It’s very frustrating, it’s difficult, but as I said, we’ve been in this business for a long time, and we know how to deal with teams, with fighters, with managers and with everyone that’s talking in a fighter’s ear.
“We’ll get this done, we’ve never failed anybody, and we’ll continue to deliver the biggest fights possible,” Oscar added.
Today’s news is Callum Smith is a strong possibility for Canelo’s next fight on September 12. Callum wanted $6 million, but Golden Boy offered him $5 million.
Pay-cuts are necessary
“It’s been very difficult,” said De La Hoya on how the pandemic has hurt his efforts at putting Canelo’s next fight. “When you take into consideration a 15, 17 1/2 and $18 million gate, for instance, that we could have generated for GGG and Canelo the third time around, it’s a big blow to everyone.
“But everyone has to understand that pay-cuts are going to happen, and they have to take place in order to make these types of fights happen. But I’m very confident that it shouldn’t be an issue when you have the viewer at home, desperately wanting entertainment.
“We strongly feel that with boxing coming back on July 24th, it’s going to be a great thing not only for DAZN and for the boxing fan, but everyone involved.
“People want to be entertained, and they want to see great fights. I can assure you that when the Canelo fight is announced, it’s going to be the biggest thing across the globe because people are hurting to see the biggest star in boxing,” said Oscar.
De La Hoya asking Canelo’s opponents to take pay-cuts when he’s making $33 million per fight is hard to do. Fighters want to at least a 70-30 split with Canelo instead of 85-15 or 90-10.
You get what you pay for in life. If Golden Boy is only willing to offer Canelo’s opponents much smaller amounts compared to what he’s getting, then he could get stuck fighting the likes of John Ryder, Jason Quigley, and Lemieux.
DAZN and Golden Boy Promotions getting along well
“We have Ryan Garcia, who can be a superstar in the sport of boxing,” said De La Hoya. “Our relationship is an amazing relationship that’s growing, and we’re the relationship to become the biggest and the best.
“That’s exactly what we want for DAZN, and that’s exactly what they want for us. We’re a team, and we love working with DAZN, and we make sure that we deliver the best of the best always.
“Yes, there was, and it was very pleasant,” said De La Hoya when asked if he interacted with Canelo during a recent gold tournament last weekend. “I was very happy to see him there, and he was having a lot of fun.
“He was with Stephon Curry, hitting goofballs and interesting with the fans. So I was actually genuinely happy for him that he was in that environment, mixing it up with other athletes and the fans.
“So this is like a family. In a family, you have your arguments once in a while, but it’s always going to be family. I was very happy that we were able to interact, and the only thing we want for him is to give him the big fights and take it from there,” De La Hoya continued.
As long as Golden Boy has Canelo Alvarez with their company, they’ll do well with DAZN. If Canelo leaves Golden Boy for whatever reason, they’ll have a big void left in his wake.
Whether Golden Boy fighters Vergil Ortiz Jr or Ryan Garcia have enough talent to keep things running smoothly with Golden Boy with DAZN remains to be seen.
Oscar confident he can patch things up with Canelo
“Absolutely,” said Oscar in responding to the question of whether there’s a pathway back to get him and Canelo back to where they were a few years ago when he extended his contract with Golden Boy.
“It’s like I said, ‘family is family, and when you’re always doing the right thing, there’s nothing that can go wrong.
“So, I really look forward to it, and I respect and admire Canelo for what he’s done, and I’m looking forward to working with him for many years to come with him and his team,” said Oscar.
It’s essential for Golden Boy for De La Hoya to strengthen his relationship with Canelo because his contract runs out with them, he could be moving on. Without Canelo, Golden Boy would be dependent on Ryan Garcia and Vergil Ortiz to take up the slack leftover.
King Ryan might not pan out at 135, and his career could be hanging by a thread going into his mast against Luke Campbell. As for welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr, he’s not shown the type of talent that would enable him to beat the likes of Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.
Ortiz, 22, may need to wait until Spence and Crawford retire before he can win a world title. Vergil Jr might be looking at another six years before Crawford and Spence call it a day.
The excellent news is Ortiz is young, and he’ll be around 28 by the time they hang up their gloves so that he could take over the 147-lb division at that time.