It’s no secret that the boxing world wants to see Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin face each other in 2017. It’s a fight that is long overdue, and there’s no reason any longer for it not to take place. Golovkin and his promoters at K2 want the Canelo fight, because they don’t recognize it as growing bigger over time by letting it marinate longer. However, Golovkin and his team are not the ones that are making the decision when the fight will take place.
Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy are calling the shots for when or even if the fight will take place between him and Golovkin. It made news when De La Hoya talked about his offer to Golovkin in revealing to the boxing public, but I think it was believed.
Sadly, Canelo is following the directions from Golden Boy in waiting for their signal to eventually take the fight with the aging Golovkin, who will be turning 35-years-old next April. Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya said recently, “Three’s an eight-figure number on the table for Triple G. Sign the contract, and let’s stop with the nonsense. That’s what the deal is. That’s what we have on the table. Canelo is the biggest star.”
De La Hoya’s offer isn’t seen as a serious one in the minds of many boxing fans, as the fight between Canelo and Golovkin will likely bring in well above $100 million. If Golovkin is getting an offer of just $10 million for the fight with Canelo getting over $90 million, then it’s something of a joke.
It’s not seen as a serious offer by De La Hoya and Golden Boy. It’s merely posturing by them to say that they made an offer, and that it was refused. De La Hoya’s decision to reveal the news of his eight-figure offer after Canelo’s mismatch against little known WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith on September 17 was construed by many as an attempt of damage control by him. In other words, it was seen as a move to get the critics of the back of the 26-year-old Canelo for a little while. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, because the offer made to Golovkin from De La Hoya is not seen as a real one, and there’s tremendous doubt in the minds of fans that Canelo will be put in the ring with Golovkin in 2017.
It’s up to De La Hoya and Golden Boy if they want to continue to let the Canelo-Golovkin fight marinate without end. By not letting the fight happen, it’s going to keep Canelo from growing into a star, because he needs to fight GGG for him to get to the next level. There isn’t an over-the-hill Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. or Pernell Whitaker for Canelo to fight now to pick up fans like there was for De La Hoya earlier in his career.
De La Hoya’s fights against Chavez and Whitaker, both of which were nearing the end of their careers at the time, helped make him a big star. There’s no one like that right now for Canelo. Golovkin is still a very dangerous fighter despite the fact that he’s about to turn 35. If De La Hoya thinks that Golovkin will be rusted in deactivated like an old landmine by 2017, then he’s going to have a big surprise if he chooses to throw his flagship fighter Canelo into the ring with him next year. I don’t think he will.
If Golovkin beats Daniel Jacobs in December and then looks good against his next opponent in early 2017, I suspect that De La Hoya will make the decision to let the Canelo-Golovkin fight marinate longer. I don’t think you can call it marinating. I think it’s more like De La Hoya and Golden Boy waiting for Golovkin to deteriorate in terms of his boxing skills due to his advancing age.
The fight isn’t getting bigger. If anything, I think the interest in the Canelo-Golovkin fight is slowly getting smaller due to the soft match-making that Golden Boy is doing for Canelo. It’s been two years since Golden Boy put Canelo in with a dangerous opponent in Erislandy Lara in 2014. Canelo should have lost that fight on the scorecards in the minds of a lot of fans, but the judges gave him a controversial decision.
The match-making changed for Canelo after that fight with him facing old, played out fighters like Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo. Liam Smith was seen as a paper champion in the eyes of a lot of fans, and not the No.1 fighter in the 154lb division like De La Hoya said he was.
“I made significant offer, an eight figure offer. I believe it was an offer of 2, 3 or 4 times as much as he’s ever made, and I haven’t heard back,” said De La Hoya about his offer made to Golovkin.
Golovkin is said to have made $5 million for his September 10 fight against Kell Brook at the O2 Arena in London, England. If De La Hoya’s eight-figure offer was four times the amount the Golovkin made for that fight, then it would have been for $20 million. I don’t think that’s the offer that Golovkin received from Golden Boy. If the fight is going to make well over $100 million between Golovkin and Canelo, then it doesn’t make much sense for Golovkin to agree to $10 million or even $20 million.
Golovkin would be ripping himself off if he took that lowball offer from De La Hoya. Without a percentage deal, which Golden Boy is not offering to Golovkin, he’s being treated like a B-side fighter without much to offer to the promotion. If Canelo was the one that was going to be bringing in 90 percent of the boxing fans for the Canelo-Golovkin fight, then a small eight figure offer would make sense. That’s not the case.
Golovkin will bring in a lot of fans for this fight, and pump up Canelo’s numbers from the 300,000 buy range like we’ve been seeing lately to possibly more than 2 million buys. For that reason, Golovkin should get at least a 60-40 cut of the revenue if not 55-45. I think Golovkin should stand firm for getting a 55-45 cut of the loot.
If Golden Boy and Canelo believe that he can make more money fighting someone else, then they need to try. The thing is, there isn’t anyone in the sport at this point that will bring in the kind of money that Golovkin will bring in for a fight against Canelo. Welterweight Manny Pacquiao isn’t crazy enough to fight Canelo. Pacquiao fights at around 147 after he rehydrates for his fights. If he fights Canelo, who reportedly rehydrates in the mid-170s if not 180s, Pacquiao could be out-weighed by as much 30 pounds.
Pacquiao isn’t going to take that fight, because it’s too dangerous for him. It would be like asking Canelo to fight World Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. It would be a total massacre size-wise for Canelo if he ever got in the ring with Usyk, because he would have 30lb weight advantage over the Mexican star. It would be a slaughter. Unless Floyd Mayweather Jr. comes back and decides to fight Canelo, his best and only option for a huge payday is against Golovkin. Canelo and Golden Boy need to take the fight with Golovkin while the interest is still there.