By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez’s trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso says the reports from yesterday about them agreeing to a two-fight deal with Eddie Hearn and DAZN are false. The negotiations are still ongoing, according to Reynoso.
Likewise, Hearn says the reports of Canelo being offered $85 million are incorrect.
This is good news for the boxing fans that were hoping to see Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) face Jermall Charlo next like Sean Jones. Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) is a relevant fighter, and there will be a lot of interest in a fight between Canelo and him.
PBC is reportedly offering Canelo a one-fight deal of $45 million for him to face Jermall Charlo on May 7th.
The two-fight deal that ESPN’s Mike Coppinger spoke of on Wednesday was reportedly worth $85 million for Canelo to face WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol onMay 7th and Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th.
In an interview earlier Thursday, Hearn didn’t deny the existence of the two-fight deal for Canelo to face Bivol and Golovkin. Hearn said the negotiations were ongoing.
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— EDDY REYNOSO (@CANELOTEAM) February 10, 2022
“We’re talking. Those are two fights that we’ve put forward to Canelo Alvarez,” said Hearn on Thursday in an interview with iFLTV when asked if there’s validity to the reports of the two-fight deal for Canelo.
“Coppinger texted me about 20 times, saying, ‘I heard it from four different people.’ You can hear it from me. There’s NO deal done, we’re just talking. I’m sure he’s [Canelo] talking to everybody else.
“We’ve got a great opportunity and proposal for him, but it’s just going to come down to Eddy Reynoso and Saul to decide what they want to do. It would be an honor to represent him again.
“It would be great to bring him back to DAZN and we’ll see what happens. No, they’re NOT right,” said Hearn when asked if the $85 million offer from him and DAZN for the Canelo’stwo-fight deal is correct.
“I mean, look, he’s the pound-for-pound #1, he’s the biggest star in boxing. Obviously, we want to be as aggressive as we can with our proposal,” said Hearn about his offer to Canelo.
Reynoso isn’t saying whether there are any other offers on the table for Canelo’snext fight than the two existing ones.
We know David Benavidez and his dad Jose Sr.have been pushing hard for a fight with Canelo, and that would show a tremendous amount of bravery on the superstar’s part to face him.
Many boxing fans believe that Canelo has been ducking Benavidez for years to keep from losing to the young lion.
Either way, Canelo will be facing a quality opponent on May 7th. The only thing we don’t know is whether he’ll be facing Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) or Jermall Charlo on that date.
It would be a massive jump up in class for Canelo to fight either of those two fighters compared to the opposition he’s been facing since late 2018.
After Canelo’s rematch with Golovkin in 2018, which many boxing fans felt he lost, he’s backed off from fighting elite-level opposition by focusing on facing belt holders, older fighters, and his old sparring partner.
The statement from Reynoso will be interpreted by some boxing fans as a signal that Canelo is getting cold feet about the prospects of facing Bivol and Golovkin in back-to-back fights. Look at it this way.
If Canelo loses both of those fights this year, his career will be in the tank, and he’ll be viewed as over-the-hill.
Given that many boxing fans already believed that Canelo deserved losses in both of his fights with GGG, he could wreck his career by agreeing to Hearn &DAZN’s two-fight deal to face Bivol and Golovkin in 2022.