By Jeff Aronow: Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin is holding up Canelo Alvarez’s 2-fight deal with Matchroom to face Dmitry Bivol on May 7th and GGG on September 17th on DAZN.
ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reports that Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) has given his verbal agreement to a two-fight deal to face WBA 175lb champion Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) and Golovkin.
Bivol has already signed his contract for the fight and has begun training. However, IBF middleweight champion Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) is “holding up” up the deal for getting Canelo to sign.
Golovkin needs to agree to deal
“Talks are ongoing between Golovkin and DAZN to resolve issues, sources said,” said Coppinger to ESPN. “Alvarez’s deal CAN’T be finalized until Golovkin agrees to the deal as well, according to sources. In a tweet Thursday night, Alvarez said he was still negotiating.”
Coppinger took heat from boxing fans on Thursday night after Canelo took a verbal shot at him for jumping the gun with his news of the two-fight deal being agreed on.
I don’t even agree I’m still negotiating don’t lie to people the day everything is signed that day I’ll let them know for now there’s nothing concrete. https://t.co/Oy94OcMTLI
— Canelo Alvarez (@Canelo) February 18, 2022
As you can see, Canelo says there’s “NOTHING concrete” yet with his negotiations with Matchroom & DAZN for his two-fight deal.
With that said, it’s believed that Canelo has zero interest in the $100 million two-fight deal from PBC, which would have him fight Jermall Charlo on May 7th and David Benavidez on September 17th.
It’s unclear why Canelo prefers Matchroom’s offer over the $100M that PBC is presenting to him for their 2-fight deal. Still, some boxing fans believe the Mexican superstar doesn’t like the idea of acing the unbeaten knockout artist Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs).
While Jermall has looked quite average recently over his last three fights, Benavidez impresses with each event.
Back to the training routine 🦾 pic.twitter.com/mezfN4Tfco
— Gennadiy Golovkin (@GGGBoxing) February 18, 2022
In taking on WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol, Canelo will be taking the first step of an arduous journey to become the undisputed champion at 175.
Canelo beginning his journey at 175
Bivol is perhaps the weakest link among the three champions at light heavyweight right now, so it makes perfect sense for Canelo to target him first.
If Canelo beats Bivol, the hard part will be to dethrone IBF/WBC 175-lb champion Artur Beterbiev and WBO champion Joe Smith Jr.
Those two light heavyweight champions can knock someone through a brick wall, and they’re going to be looking to take the much smaller 5’8″ Canelo apart with every punch they throw. Beterbiev’s body punching could prove to be a nightmare for Canelo, as he uses a lot of head movement to avoid shots upstairs.
All the head movement that Canelo employs will be purposeless against Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs) because the Russian will target his body from the earliest moments of the fight and will be looking to punch holes in his midsection.
Benavidez looks VERY hard to beat right now, and with his high-volume attacking style of fighting, there’s a good chance he would overwhelm Canelo and stop him.
To be sure, Canelo is a superstar, but he’s also one who hasn’t fought an elite fighter in many, many years since his controversial win over Golovkin in 2018.
It by design that Canelo has stayed away from fighting the best or a mere accident?
When you see Canelo facing the likes of his old sparring partner Avni Yildirim rather than Benavidez, it indicates that he’s purposefully chosen weaker opponents that wouldn’t wreck the good thing he’s got going as the face of boxing.
Since that fight, Canelo has been resting on his laurels, seemingly going out of his way to avoid fighting the elite.
Canelo’s opposition since late 2018 has been disappointing, and it’s become apparent to even casual boxing fans that he’s not fighting the best.
