The proposed middleweight fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin has been on the drawing board for over three years but the promoters of both fighters have yet to agree on specific details of the fight including purse split, date and venue.
Even before the Cotto-Alvarez fight last year, there have been preliminary talks about the Alvarez-Golovkin fight. After beating Cotto via a unanimous decision last Nov. 21 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, Alvarez said he was ready to face Golovkin, who is the No.1 challenger in the 160 pound weight limit. But Alvarez’ promoter Oscar De la Hoya and Golovkin’s promoter had mutually agreed that both fighters would take interim fights before finalizing the deal for the Alvarez-Golovkin fight later this year. Now it appears that De la Hoya is dillydallying on the highly anticipated match. The Golden Boy Promotions chief complains that a deadline has been set for him to forge a deal with K2 Promotuions, Golovkin’s promoter. Alvarez and de la Hoya balked as they issued these statements: “After much consideration, today, I instructed my team at Golden Boy Promotions to continue negotiating a fight with Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin and to finalize a deal as quickly as possible. I also informed the WBC that I will vacate its title. For the entirety of my career, I have taken the fights that no one wanted because I fear no man. Never has that been more true than today, Alvarez said. I will fight ‘GGG,’ and I will beat ‘GGG’ but I will not be forced into the ring by artificial deadlines. I am hopeful that by putting aside this ticking clock, the two teams can now negotiate this fight, and ‘GGG’ and I can get in the ring as soon as possible and give the fans the fight they want to see,” he added. For his part, De la Hoya said: “There is no denying that Canelo is the biggest star in the sport of boxing. He is eager to get in the ring with ‘GGG’ to show the world that he is also the best pound for pound fighter in the sport, but we won’t negotiate under a forced deadline. Now that the WBC title is off the table, I am hopeful that ‘GGG’ and his promoter K2 Promotions will come to the table in good faith and get this deal done.” It appears that despite the mutually agreed commitment by both parties to forge a deal right after their interim fights, another roadblock is being thrown in the way of what seems to be this year’s biggest fight. Obviously, De la Hoya isn’t convinced that it is going to be financially viable pay-per-view fight because of the Golovkin’s anemic drawing power being a neophyte PPV fighter. De la Hoya’s concern could be traced to the low PPV turnout of the Alvarez-Khan fight despite of the massive promotions both in the US and UK. A low PPV turnout has something to do with the purse determination for both fighters and it seems that the parties have not arrived at reasonable purse splits. Compared to Amir Khan, who has figured in some major PPV fights, Golovkin has fought once on PPV and made just about 150,000 buys against David Lemieux. While Golovkin’s promoter is happy about the low turnout, De la Hoya definitely won’t settle for anything below his take on the recently concluded Alvarez-Khan PPV figures which was reported at about 600,000 buys. There is no doubt about De la Hoya’s intention to forge an agreement with Golovkin’s promoter pursuant to their interim fight arrangement but as the lead promoter, he has to make sure that the fight is financially viable for the benefit of the stakeholders including the fighters.
