LAS VEGAS ? Oscar De La Hoya stood on stage for over an hour early Sunday morning before finally revealing how he?ll actually approach the negotiating game for the highly anticipated Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight.
De La Hoya, whose company promotes Alvarez, promised to call Golovkin?s representatives Sunday to begin discussing the potential pay-per-view showdown. Alvarez and De La Hoya were adamant about Alvarez?s genuine desire to fight Golovkin next for Alvarez?s WBC middleweight title, perhaps at the Dallas Cowboys? 101,000-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
They were equally emphatic about who?ll dictate terms if an agreement is reached.
“Obviously, Canelo is the superstar,” De La Hoya said. “There?s no doubt about who the man is in boxing. It?s like a game of poker. I have four aces, and they probably have a pair of twos.”
Mexico?s Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs), who knocked out England?s Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) in frightening fashion Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, is a proven pay-per-view star and arguably boxing?s biggest draw now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are retired.
His fight against Mayweather, which Alvarez lost by majority decision in September 2013, remains the second-most profitable pay-per-view fight in boxing history. It generated approximately 2.2 million buys and $150 million in pay-per-view revenue.
The emerging Golovkin is a captivating knockout artist who has headlined cards that have sold out Madison Square Garden and The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., within the past seven months. His lone pay-per-view main event, an eighth-round stoppage of David Lemieux (35-3, 32 KOs) on Oct. 17, drew only 150,000 buys and about $8 million in revenue.
Alvarez figures to command significantly more than a 50-50 financial split, yet those might not be the numbers that prevent the fight from happening.
Kazakhstan?s Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) and his trainer, Abel Sanchez, reiterated at ringside following the Alvarez-Khan fight that they won?t go below the middleweight limit of 160 pounds, no matter how much money is at stake. Alvarez?s two middleweight title fights have been contested at a maximum catch weight of 155.
Alvarez also repeatedly has stated that he?s not a true middleweight. That didn?t stop him from saying all the right things and inviting Golovkin into the ring Saturday night once his crushing right hand knocked Khan unconscious in the sixth round.
“There?s not going to be any weight issues whatsoever,” Alvarez said. “I already talked to my team. We?re going to go with an offer and see if the fight can get made. ? I?ll fight him at 160. There?s no issue.”
The WBC ordered negotiations between promoters for Alvarez, 25, and Golovkin, 34, to begin immediately after the Alvarez-Khan clash. They have 15 days to reach an agreement or the fight will go to a purse bid later this month that would favor Alvarez by a 75-25 split because he?s the champion.
Alvarez could choose, however, to relinquish the WBC middleweight championship he won by beating Puerto Rico?s Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas. The former junior middleweight champion indicated that remains a possibility, but De La Hoya dispelled rumors that he would prefer to have Alvarez box Cotto again or Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs), if he ends his retirement, in Alvarez?s next fight.
“The main thing is this ? if we?re going to fight, we?re going to fight not because it was mandated, this and that,” Alvarez said. “We can fight for no belts. If we?re going to fight, we?re going to fight for honor and pride.”
