The WBC has formally ordered the Canelo Alvarez/Gennady Golovkin middleweight fight. According to an agreement made months ago, if Canelo, the World middleweight champion, refuses to fight GGGG, the unified middleweight champion, he will be stripped of his title. This comes on the heels of Canelo’s brutal 6th round knockout of Amir Khan and GGG’s utter destruction of Dominic Wade in April. Both fights being interim before they would negotiate a fight once again.
Boxingscene.com got the scoop:
“Both boxers and their teams were notified through (a formal) letter that the 30-day free negotiations period was due to begin on Monday, May 9. They will have 15 days to reach an agreement, in which case a purse bid hearing will be held on May 24.”
Both parties are in talks with each other to make this fight happen, but as we’ve seen in the past, boxing has a way of not working out the fights that matter when they matter most. It took a half-decade and Manny Pacquiao getting knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez before Floyd Mayweather agreed to fight him when Manny was well past his prime. Similar accusations have been thrown at Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo for not defending his middleweight title against the undefeated Golovkin, who has 32 knockouts in his 35 wins.
Canelo, who is eight years GGG’s junior, has time on his side. Even if he elects to be stripped, the powerful puncher has a slew of potential money fights ahead of him. While he’s off fighting the likes of Timothy Bradley or even Manny Pacquiao (no one really believes he’s retired), GGG will be getting older and exiting his prime as Canelo enters his. This could sound cynical, but this is typically the way things work in the boxing world.
So now we’re here, with negotiations underway for the biggest boxing event since Pacquiao/Mayweather. At 47-1-1, Canelo has the name and the record to ask for whatever he wants right now, including a fight against someone other than GGG, with the potential of regaining his middleweight title in the future.
(Via BoxingScene)
