Saul Canelo Alvarez’s approval by DAZN for his next fight against his IBF mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko is no longer tied to a trilogy match against Gennady Golovkin, according to Mike Coppinger. IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Canelo can now take the fight against Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KOs) without the approval of the contest being tied to a third match against GGG by DAZN.
Canelo-Derevyanchenko not a done deal yet
Canelo vs. Derevyanchenko still isn’t official. Until it’s a done deal, it’s always possible that Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions could give up on the negotiations and head in another direction. Maybe Canelo will face Derevyanchenko, maybe not, but either way, he’ll wind up participating in an event against a name fighter that will be memorable for the fans.
Canelo gives the impression that he’s bored with Golovkin, and would rather accept less money than to get tied down wasting his best years fighting a guy that looks from all appearances to be just looking to cash out.
That’s the perception a lot of boxing fans now have about Golovkin. He’s no longer fighting the best, and just chasing the Canelo fight for a payday. More importantly, GGG isn’t a world champion, and Canelo asked him to capture a world title before he came back looking for a third fight. Not only did GGG not show a willingness to follow Canelo’s advice to him, he selected a bottom ranked ranked contender in 35-year-old Steve Rolls, who was ranked #15 with the World Boxing Council. Golovkin’s decision not to take the easy path against Rolls instead of doing the hard work of fighting for a world title against WBO champion Demetrius Andrade has led to him not getting the Canelo fight.
Golovkin failed to win a world title like Canelo asked him to do
In hindsight, GGG might have done thing differently, and did what Canelo asked him. It’s too late now. Canelo has moved on. The superstar Canelo won’t exhaust his batteries throwing a bone to a stubborn former world champion, who seems have a sense of entitlement when it comes to getting another fight with him.
Canelo is the best, and that’s a fight will pay Golovkin a massive amount of money where losing doesn’t matter. Just getting the fight with Canelo would be a victory for Golovkin.
Canelo already had his pivotal battle against GGG last September, and he beat him by a clear 12 round decision. A third fight would be redundant, and a pointless waste of time, especially with GGG just a contender and not a world champion. The superstar Canelo would be doing GGG a favor by fighting him again, because it would give him another payday. It’s believed that Canelo doesn’t want to help GGG again, and be bitten on the hand by the fighter that he’s feeding in terms of dealing with trash talk.
That’s the fight that the streaming network DAZN reportedly wanted to see Canelo make after he made a mandatory defense of his International Boxing Federation title, but now he no longer must do that. The IBF recently ordered Canelo to defend his title against Derevyanchenko.
Canelo reportedly to take less than his $35 million guarantee for Derevyanchenko fight
The downside of Golovkin not being a part of the Derevyanchenko approval process, is Canelo will be making less money for this fight than the guaranteed $35 million, according to Coppinger. Just how much less is unclear.
If Canelo is going to get considerably less money for fighting Derevyanchenko without GGG being part of the approval process, then that’s obviously a negative. At least Canelo can fight who he wants after he gets the Derevyanchenko fight out of the way instead of being stuck having to fight Golovkin again.
“As part of GGG no longer being tied to Derevyanchenko approval, industry sources say Canelo Alvarez agreed to take less money than his guaranteed $35 million from DAZN,” said @MikeCoppinger.
Whatever money Canelo gets for the Derevyanchenko fight, he’ll likely make great money when/if he faces WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. That’s a fight that could take place later this year. Whether Canelo will still want the fight with Sergey by that point is unknown. Kovalev has a title defense coming up next month against Anthony Yarde on August 24 in Russia, and it’s not certain that he’ll win that fight.
“Before approving Derevyanchenko as an opponent for Canelo’s next fight October 26th, DAZN boss John Skipper also dropped his request that Canelo guarantee that he’d fight Golovkin in his following fight if Derevyanchenko were approved. Negotiations ongoing this afternoon,” said @idecboxing.
Canelo doesn’t want to vacate IBF title
Canelo is a machine built for war, and he’s decided to not to give up his IBF title in order to take more lucrative fights that would make DAZN happy. When Canelo speaks about wanting to face the best, you must assume now that he’s serious. He wants to unify the middleweight division, and he’s not going to sacrifice his titles in order to avoid fighting mandatory challengers that bring nothing to the table.
Derevyanchenko, 33, fits that category. He’s not popular, and he’s already been beaten by former Canelo victim Daniel Jacobs. Moreover, Derevyanchenko almost lost his last fight to Jack Culcay last April. The IBF unquestionably sees something in Derevyanchenko, because they keep putting him in position to fight for world titles. He just lost to Jacobs last October in fighting for the vacant IBF middleweight title, and now he’s being given another shot.
You’ve got to admire Canelo for wanting to take this fight, because he would be better off vacating the IBF title, and focus instead on fighting guys the U.S boxing public wants to see him face, There’s no one at this time clamoring to see Canelo fight Derevyanchenko. It’s really a useless fight for Canelo, and the only thing he can hope to accomplish is to hold onto his IBF title. Beating Derevyanchenko won’t lead to Canelo being praised, because Jacobs already defeated the Ukrainian last year. The IBF is giving Derevyanchenko repeated chances, and one has to wonder how much longer they’re going to do this. If Derevyanchenko gets beaten every time, when will the IBF let other contenders compete for the belt?
There are bigger fights for Canelo
Canelo wants to participate in events larger than himself, and have experiences that he can remember before he retires one day. Fighters have a short span of time to compete, which makes it important for them to seek out the best competition. While some boxing fans would like to see Canelo fight Golovkin repeatedly for the remainder of his career, he doesn’t wish to. He wants to be involved with other important fights.
Golovkin is already in Canelo’s rearview mirror now, having lost to him last September. The victor moves on while the loser picks up the pieces, fighting whoever. GGG has already shown the direction he wants to take his career by fighting Steve Rolls last June. One can expect more of the same from GGG. Coming events cast their shadows before. Golovkin can lament his failurefrom his two fights with Canelo, and possibly learn from his experiences. GGG was given a second chance against Canelo, and he still couldn’t beat him. At 37, GGG only has a small handful of time left in his career. He shouldn’t waste it fighting lesser opposition, and he should give up on chasing Canelo. It’s a bad look on his part.
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