By Sean Jones: It’s looking unlikely that Canelo Alvarez will be fighting on September 12th as initially planned. There have no reports of Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions having selected an opponent for that date.
According to Mike Coppinger, Golden Boy Promotions and Alvarez haven’t made progress with DAZN. ESPN says DAZN wants Canelo to take a pay cut for his next fight, and that isn’t going to fly with him.
If Canelo were facing a famous guy that would bring in the subscribers like Gennady Golovkin, perhaps it wouldn’t be an issue with DAZN. But with Callum Smith, he’s an unknown with American casual boxing fan. Callum isn’t even popular in the U.K.
You can second guess Canelo’s decision to move up to 168, and call it a bad idea because there are no famous fighters in that division. Canelo hasn’t talked of wanting to take risks with his career by fighting David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, Artur Beterbiev, or Dmitry Bivol.
He’s limited to Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, and Golovkin. You’ve got to feel sorry for DAZN because they may not get their money’s worth with Canelo if he spends the remainder of his 11-fight, $365 million contract fighting guys like Saunders, Callum, and Ryota Murata.
Canelo has competition for September 12th date
“There are a million differences, and then you see that Canelo is having issues with DAZN’s lawyers and having issues with Oscar De La Hoya,” said Callum Smith’s trainer Joe Gallagher to Boxing Social.
“All we know is Callum Smith has put his name in the frame, and he’s taken less money. We want that fight.
“I know that Eddy Reynoso said in an interview that he wants [Canelo] to fight Callum Smith. We’ve been picked. I’ve been told that DAZN wants Callum Smith. There’s no going back.
“That’s the one to make. They need to get the figures out, and the fight will be made. The likelihood of going on September 12th going up against Roy Jones and Mike Tyson could be very hard. I don’t care if your a boxing fan or a casual.
“I think people will pay to watch. That’s it, not knowing and wondering. That’s very hard going up against that. I don’t care if you’re Canelo or not. If they do, it’s a big gamble.
“But if they’re waiting to launch DAZN in the U.K., to get the subscribers, they may have to move the date. I don’t know. I’m only speculating,” said Gallaher on Canelo fight.
Competing with the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr date for September 12th sounds like a bad idea for Canelo. DAZN knows better than to put Canelo up against Tyson-Jones because that won’t work.
If Canelo and Golden Boy all of a sudden contact Gallum and Gallagher to say they’re still ready or September, at least they’ll be prepared to take the contest.
Callum Smith doesn’t know if he’ll get the Alvarez fight
“I speak to Callum every day, and he says there are no updates,” said Gallagher. “He’s not heard anything. There are people in America putting rumors out there to keep Callum from getting the fight.
“It’s up to Eddie Hearn, DAZN, and Golden Boy to get that purse and get that fight, and then let’s go. It’ll be a great fight. Boxing needs a super fight. We’ve heard about the Lomachenko fight.”
Golden Boy and Canelo will need to increase the offer that was made to Callum to get him to agree to the contest. The rumored $5 million offer is too low, it seems, and it’s going to need to be increased a little.
Whether Golden Boy is playing a game with Smith to try and wait him out until he gives in and accepts their offer is unclear.
“It’s done for October 3rd. Hopefully, Tyson and Joshua have their respective fights by the end of the year. So the big fights are coming. I think Canelo will be fuming if he doesn’t get another Cinco de Mayo in, but if he wants September 12th, Callum Smith will be ready for it.
“He did a check weight today, and we’re going to be ready to go. We’re not going to be caught with our pants down. I believe there have been negotiations from what Callum has said.
“It’s out there that there’s a figure of five on the table. You’ve got to play the game and play the sweepstakes. We’re training, and we’ve got to be ready, and Canelo is ready,” Gallagher said.
It’s good that Callum is staying in shape and has his weight on point to be ready for the September 12th fight.
Billy Joe wants to fight Canelo in December
“F**** everyone around for a date. I know they’re **** Callum Smith around,” said Billy Joe Saunders to IFL TV on Canelo, still not having announced his next fight.
“He’s [Callum] world-class fighter, he’s a world champion, and he’s better than that. All they do is f*** with your brain and your mind. Are you getting it, or are you not? Let’s hang around and playing second, third.’ No, no, no. World champion matters.
“You’re worked champion. Pull yourself out of it and f*** them off, and if they really do want to fight, they’ll pay you and give you a date and a time. It’s a funny set-up.
“I think they’re trying to take their angle with Golden Boy with their opponent. I don’t blame them for giving their opponent less time as possible, but what are we five or six weeks out?
“It won’t surprise me if they are going to go in September. Let me tell you the best thing Canelo can do. Wait until December and come to a proper super middleweight and proper champion,” said Saunders.
You can’t know what Canelo and Golden Boy will do at this point. It would seem that they’re not going to be fighting on September 12th unless it’s against someone that boxing fans would least suspect, but you don’t know.
The reports that Canelo is having problems with DAZN over the pay for his next fight don’t look good for September 12th. With Callum Smith’s trainer Joe Gallagher still in the dark about whether they’re getting the fight or not, it suggests that he won’t be next.
If DAZN and Canelo really want the Saunders fight, then perhaps they’ll take him up on his offer. It still won’t interest a lot of boxing fans in the U.S. and the U.K.
Saunders willing to fight Canelo for free
“Wait until December, and then let’s go,” said Billy Joe about Canelo. “A fair even playing field with no robbery. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. The money I signed for, I’ll let you keep it.
“If he wants to come to England, I’ll fight him for free. And if I beat him, pay me what I’m contracted. If I don’t, don’t pay me. So that’s how fair I can be and how confident I can beat him.
“As I said, I feel sorry for the other fighters because I was speaking to [Sergiy] Derevyanchenko on Twitter. I was speaking to him and said, ‘What’s going on with the Canelo fight?
“And he told me that they offered him half the money that he got against Golovkin. That’s when I knew. I left it to my own self and said, ‘I’ll see you later,'” said Saunders.
There’s little chance that Saunders will agree to fight Canelo for free if he loses the fight. That’s just an attention-getting comment from Saunders to have boxing fans get excited about him as a possible opponent for Canelo, but it’s not going to happen.
If Saunders had a good chance of beating Canelo, then, of course, him agreeing to take no money if he loses would sound right. That’s not the case. Saunders will be a massive underdog of the fight is made, and there’s not much he can do to win other than knocking Canelo out.
Beating Canelo by a decision may prove to be impossible, as we’ve seen in many of his past fights.