By Mark Eisner: Canelo Alvarez has agreed to the two-fight deal from Matchroom to face Dmitry Bivol on May 7th and Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th on DAZN pay-per-view.
WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol has already signed the contract for the fight.
It might not make some boxing fans happy that Canelo’s fights with Bivol and Golovkin will be on DAZN PPV, as this was originally supposed to be a non-PPV platform, but they’re changing with the times.
G0lovkin still hasn’t signed due to some “issues” that are being worked through, according to Mike Coppinger.
Additionally, Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) still must win his April middleweight title unification fight against Ryota Murata in Japan. As long as IBF middleweight champion Golovkin wins that fight and signs the contract for the Canelo trilogy, he’ll be good to go.
Canelo has agreed to the 2-fight deal
“We are almost at the finish line now. I am told that Canelo has agreed to a deal for two fights with Matchroom,” said Mike Coppinger at ESPN on Canelo Alvarez agreeing to the two-fight deal to face Dmitry Bivol on May 7th and Gennadiy Golovkin on September 17th.
“Fight one is on May 7th against Dmitry Bivol for the light heavyweight title and then in September [17th], as long as GGG beats Ryota Murata in a rescheduled world title fight in April.
“What I’m told at the moment is that although Canelo has agreed and Dmitry Bivol has signed the contract, GGG is trying to resolve some issues on his end. That is the hold-up right there on the GGG side. I do believe it’ll be done in the coming days.
“PBC did make two offers. One of them was a one-fight deal for $45 million to fight Jermall Charlo in May.
“They also had a two-fight deal for a second fight potentially against David Benavidez in September that would have totaled over 100 million dollars, but Canelo rejected that offer and talks ended about ten days ago, and there has been no dialogue since,” said Coppinger.
Boxing fans are already complaining on social media that Canelo is “ducking” Jermall Charlo, and is afraid of fighting him. That’s not the case obviously. Canelo can always face Charlo once he finishes his two-fight deal with Matchroom.
Golovkin needs to sign contract
It would behoove Canelo to resist fighting Jermall until he finishes his goal of becoming the undisputed champion at 175 because it’s going to be difficult for him to bounce up and down from 168 to 175.
As it is, Canelo is going to have his hands full coming back down in weight from 175 to 168 to face Golovkin in September.
“Once GGG signs the contract, the deal should be complete. But even then, Golvokin will have to get past Ryota Murata in a middleweight title unification in Japan in April,” said Coppinger.
Canelo was perhaps swayed by the chance to begin his quest to become an undisputed champion at 175, and that could be the rationale behind his decision to agree to the two-fight deal with Matchroom.
With the still intense interest from boxing fans and DAZN in seeing the trilogy match with Golovkin, it was logical for Canelo to give them what they wanted.
There are still some boxing fans that insist that Golovkin deserved to win the two fights. By Canelo agreeing to the two-fight deal, he can finally show the fans that he’s the better man.
Earlier it was reported by ESPN Deportes that the venue for the May 7th Canelo vs. Bivol fight will be T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This is the same venue that Canelo fought at for his two Golovkin fights, as well as his contests against Amir Khan, Daniel Jacobs, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and Erislandy Lara.