By Craig Daly: Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennadiy Golovkin 3 press tour will be announced shortly, according to promoter Eddie Hearn for their September 17th trilogy fight.
Hearn says the frontrunner location for Canelo-Golovkin III is in Las Vegas, but he’s received offers to stage it outside of the U.S.
He didn’t give any hints about which countries are interested in staging the fight, but Mexico would be a likely possibility. It’s not likely that Saudi Arabia would be pushing to stage the Canelo vs. Golovkin 3 fight, but you never know.
Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) made big news recently when he decided to take the trilogy fight against Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) over an immediate rematch with WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
It was thought that Canelo’s pride would get the better of him, leading him into a straight rematch with the unbeaten Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) after losing to the WBA champion by a 12-round unanimous decision on May 7th.
Hearn could have persuaded Canelo to go in the direction of the 40-year-old Golovkin because he’s getting old, and it’s unlikely he can avoid getting beaten for much longer.
Golovkin struggled to beat WBA ‘Super’ middleweight champion Ryota Murata on April 9th in a fight where he showed his age throughout.
“So, Canelo fights Bivol, and we have the GGG fight signed, and subject to him winning, we’re ready to announce the fight that night,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV.
“Bivol comes in and upsets the odds, beats Canelo Alvarez, and we’re like, ‘Okay, what are we going to do with the GGG fight because it’s one of the biggest fights in boxing?’
“The feeling was, it’s [Canelo vs. Golovkin III] is a bigger fight now because the air of invincibility of Canelo Alvarez no longer exists. I think if he beats Gennady Golovkin comfortably, people give GGG very little chance in that fight. Now all of a sudden, maybe he could [beat Canelo].
“He had the decision to make, Canelo Alvarez, to try and rematch Dmitry Bivol or to take the contracted GGG fight for the undisputed at super middleweight.
“So he decided to fight Gennadiy Golovkin because also, I feel, it’s now or never for the Canelo-GGG fight. Get that fight done, and then rematch Dmitry Bivol next May. So that was the process that took place.
“We announced Canelo against GGG for September 17th, and the venue will be announced in due course. We are planning now a defense for Dmitry Bivol around the same time before moving into the rematch with Canelo Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo [next May].
“It’s a great run of fights. If you think going back to Canelo’s resume, coming off the Bivol fight to go into the GGG fight, and then back rematching Dmitry Bivol. It’s just incredible, as you saw with the announcement.
“It’s [Canelo vs. Golovkin 3] the biggest fight in boxing, to be honest with you, right now. Numbers, noise, pay-per-view, gate. Some people say, ‘GGG is getting a bit old. Canelo is this and that, moving up in weight.’
“Trust me, this fight is absolutely huge, and it’ll be an absolute thriller. There’s no chance in a million years that it’ll go 12 rounds. I think I heard from Golovkin’s side that they didn’t like the fact that it won’t go 12 rounds.
“I’m not saying Canelo stops him. I’m saying that fight doesn’t go 12 rounds this time. They can’t stand each other. I could hardly get a quote out of them for the press release.
“When I bring them together, you’ll see and the press tour will be announced shortly. I think it’s the frontrunner, but we’ve had a lot of interest in this fight,” said Hearn when asked if Las Vegas is the likely location for the Canelo vs. Golovkin III fight.
“Yes, [offers made outside of America to stage Canelo-Golovkin 3] and we will make a decision in the next two weeks. I think he’s fine,” said Hearn when asked what Bivol’s reaction was at learning that Canelo chose to fight Golovkin next in September instead of facing him in a rematch.
