Why the negotiations between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin will determine the future of boxing
By George A. Dampeer, Real Combat Media DE/DC Boxing Correspondent
The 25 year old Mexican superstar, Saul Canelo Alvarez defeated Puerto Rican rival Miguel Cotto this past weekend by unanimous that was announced to have locked in at least 900,000 PPV buys, via ESPN’s Dan Rafael. In victory, Canelo earns the WBC middleweight championship where his mandatory challenger lurks, Gennady Golovkin. The WBC has mandated Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions to schedule a fight with the Khazak in the next 13 days which could see the winner just two belts short of a undisputed champion of the middleweight division.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s trainer, Eddy Reynoso, stated this week he remains adamant the WBC middleweight champion will only fight Gennady Golovkin at a catchweight of 155 pounds, a major stumbling block as the two camps try to come to an agreement regarding the highly anticipated unification bout.
HBO’s Max Kellerman stood in the ring with a roughly unblemished Canelo Alvarez, as he had with Golovkin a little over a month ago, asking about a possible fight between the two. While both vehemently agreed in those interviews that they would like to fight each other, as with most clashing superstars, there are terms that need to be addressed and met. In this case the terms seem minimal, yet massive… weight. Canelo and Cotto both chose not to weight in on the unofficial fight night scale, but it was noticeable difference in size from the Canelo that weighed in on Friday at the 155 lbs limit. “Canelo easily looked about 170 to 175 lbs in there Saturday” said Max Kellerman on his ESPN LA 710AM radio show on Monday. But, for some reason Canelo does not yet feel he is ready for the middleweight division and prefers to fight at the catchweight of 155. The same has been implemented to the negotiations for this fight, with Canelo stating two weeks ago that a fight with Golovkin will “only happened at 155”.
While the option of simply vacating the title and take on challengers could quite well be a favored choice by many in this position, when it comes to Canelo Alvarez and the Mexican fan base in particular there are certain expectation of fighting all comers and challengers. So lets keep the notion that he is in fact intent on fighting GGG; its something of comical irony to hold middleweight lineage and in a unification fight that isn’t fought at the very least, closer to the 160 weight limit. But where anyone else would be condemned and shamed for not doing so, Canelo is granted immunity for the fact that he is currently the most watched and popular fighter at the moment, aside from a soon retiring Manny Pacquiao. The 900K PPV buys mentioned earlier may seem low in comparison to past Mayweather and Pacquiao fights and of course their fight with each other, but in the wake of that May PPV fights have taken a hit. Golovkin himself, had suffered some of the backlash with is PPV premier against the David Lemieux in a fight that had built just as much as an action fight as Cotto vs Canelo. The PPV numbers from Saturday were the highest non Pacquiao-Mayweather fight since 2008, and one could consider a Canelo vs. Golovkin do easily do more.
The term “A-side” has been so glamoured of late that it in it’s own has been a more prestigious title than “champion”. Its how the projected winner becomes the certain winner and different abilities can give you this advantage. In the Cotto vs. Canelo fight, Cotto was fiscally stern for the larger share of the pot due to his longevity, body of work, and status. In Golovkin’s Madison Square bout, he was the proverbial “a-side” against Lemieux due to his (projected) popularity and status. In a negotiation with any other fighter, including Andre Ward, he would be the a-side. After the beat beat down of the Canadian in New York, the general perception among boxing fans, journalist, and media alike see Golovkin as “thee man” at 160, and the growing belting highlights that perception. Here though, we a have the most popular fighter with recently acquired hardware for a division he has yet to acknowledge as his own, against a middleweight champion mowing down that very division and favored to beat the popular, and its the popular fighter who could possibly have negotiated in his favor.
However, a ‘negotiation’ becomes a deal when both parties can agree to concede. We could see the two agree at a weight of 158. Golovkin has previously weighted in for his middleweight fights at 158 1/2 lbs several times, and Canelo can only benefit at a higher catchweight if a full move to 160 isn’t made. He will not to have such a long camp for simple weight loss and would most likely still be the heavier man on fight night.
Even in logistics, a subtle move up in weight does not hurt Canelo. It actually helps! But if Canelo is permitted to keep the title if a deal isn’t met, and Golovkin’s hand is forced to give in to 155 demands; then the WBC chose to be a boxing business rather than a boxing institution.
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