After much shouting and wailing from boxing fans, a fight between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennady ‘Triple G’ Golovkin is in the works for the future. When exactly is a question, and whether the two sides can come to an agreement is another hurdle. Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya has been the more proactive person in the media, revealing a plan for his fighter to face Triple G in about a year when Alvarez has had ample time to ‘bulk up’ 5 pounds to fight Golovkin at middleweight. And now he’s trying to drive the narrative on the negotiations as well.
“So, 30 days ago I made an offer to GGG and his people,” De La Hoya told RingTV. “I made an eight-figure offer. I believe it’s an offer that was two, three, four times what he’s ever made and haven’t heard back. And that’s the bottom line.”
“All I need is for GGG and his people to at least call us back and negotiate and to take the offer,” he continued. “GGG has said that he’s not a businessman and he’s said publicly that Canelo is going to offer him $2 million. Well, guess what? There’s an eight-figure number on the table for Golovkin. Sign the contract and let’s stop with this nonsense.”
Meanwhile, Golovkin’s manager Tom Loeffler says the issue is with Golden Boy’s insistence that Triple G accept a flat fee rather than a percentage split of the pay-per-view profits.
“A flat fee for a fight is usually given to a fighter or contender who’s clearly the ‘B’ side,” Loeffler said in an article from the Los Angeles Times. “My offer back to them was based on a percentage, just like we saw in the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao agreement.”
There’s signs Golovkin may even be moving closer to becoming the A side on this fight. Canelo’s most recent pay-per-view against Liam Smith only sold in the 300,000 range, while Golovkin’s fight with Kell Brook generated more than 500,000. That’s good news for fans who want the fight to happen — it means Golden Boy can’t just keep making endless piles of cash putting Canelo up against anyone … he needs a real opponent for the masses to tune in.
There’s still more than enough time for all these negotiations to be sorted out. De La Hoya’s roadmap for Canelo was a fight in December and a fight on Cinco De Mayo, and then a fight with Gennady Golovkin. Canelo hurt his hand in the Smith fight so the December bout has already been called off, and Cinco De Mayo is an event on its own without Golovkin’s involvement. So we have a year to wait and see if the two sides can come together. But with Golovkin’s star continuing to rise, the longer Golden Boy waits, the more money they’ll have to share with Triple G.
(via RingTV and the Los Angeles Times)
