Derevyanchenko receives offers from Canelo and Jermall Charlo

By Boxing News - 07/05/2020 - Comments

By Kenneth Friedman: Sergiy Derevyanchenko has suddenly found himself in demand with both Canelo Alvarez and Jermall Charlo for a fight. @MichaelBensonn is reporting that former two-time world title challenger (13-2, 10 KOs) is fielding offers from WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) and WBC 160-pound champion Jermall Charlo (30-0, 22 KOs).

Canelo would be showing a lot of class in giving Derevyanchenko a much-deserved title shot, even if he has to go up to 168 to make it happen.

Earlier on Sunday, Billy Joe Saunders says he information on the offer Golden Boy Promotions made to the 34-year-old Derevyanchenko, and he says it’s only “HALF” of the amount that he made for his recent fight against Gennadiy Golovkin on October 5 in New York.

Derevyanchenko would need to come up to 168 to get the Canelo fight, but that’s not a big deal.

Image: Derevyanchenko receives offers from Canelo and Jermall Charlo

Derevyanchenko deserves a big fight

GGG beat Derevyanchenko by a 12 round unanimous decision to win the vacant International Boxing Federation middleweight belt. The decision was an unpopular one, however, and the fans at Madison Square Garden booed the results. These were Golovkin’s own fans, but they didn’t feel that he won.

People think the judges did Derevyanchenko dirty in giving the win to Golovkin, but it wasn’t surprising. Golovkin was the A-side in the fight, and in the sport of boxing, that means a lot. The A-side fighters tend to get the nod with the judges’ decisions when matches are close, and sometimes when they’re not close.

Derevyanchenko and Charlo are both with Premier Boxing Champions, so that would seem like the logical choice for the Ukrainian fighter. However, Derevyanchenko has always wanted a fight against the superstar Canelo, and it would be difficult for him to say no to that match.

Assuming the two offers are relatively close, it wouldn’t be surprising if Derevyanchenko chooses to face Canelo. There’s more of an upside for Derevyanchenko in taking that fight. If he beats Alvarez, then there’s money to be made in a rematch, and it would also him get a second fight with Golovkin.

Golovkin rematch wanted by Sergiy

Derevyanchenko wants to face GGG again to clear up the controversy over their fight last October. Still, the Kazakstan fighter has chosen instead to take a more comfortable match against his IBF mandatory Kamil Szeremeta. Golovkin would have no other option but to face Derevyanchenko if he beats Canelo.

Many boxing fans believe that Derevyanchenko did a better job of getting the better of Golovkin than Canelo did in their two fights together. Derevyanchenko beat up GGG and had him hurt from a body shot in the fifth round. Golovkin might have gone down if the referee hadn’t gotten in the way of the action when Derevyanchenko had him in distress.

The body shots that Derevyanchenko landed against Golovkin had him hurt numerous times in the fight, and he looked helpless to stop them. Golovkin did a better job of handling the headshots that Sergiy was hitting him with, but not the shots to the midsection.

YouTube video

What was impressive was how Derevyanchenko was able to move his feet to shift into different angles to hit Golovkin to the body. Canelo hadn’t shown that kind of expertise when attacking GGG with body shots in their second fight in 2018.

Derevyanchenko’s body punching = A problem for Canelo

If Derevyanchenko can attack Canelo’s body, he may find an area of vulnerability. Canelo’s ability to use his head movement to avoid or lessen the impact of headshots enables him to deal with those kinds of punches.

Derevyanchenko is better at going to the body than Canelo, and he hits with better power when going downstairs. Will Canelo be able to take these kinds of big shots from Derevyanchenko without getting stopped? It’ll be interesting to see.

It might be a different story if Derevyanchenko targets Canelo’s body, which is an area that he’s not as skillful at defending. Both Floyd Mayweather Jr and Austin Trout both hurt Canelo with body shots.

Canelo was so hurt from a hard punch from Trout to the solar plexus that he spent the entire second half of their fight in 2013 against the ropes. It was clear that Canelo didn’t want to get hit to the body again by Trout.