After knocking out Liam Smith last week with a brutal ninth-round body shot, Canelo Alvarez seemed destined to fight next on HBO in December en route to an eventual September 2017 meeting with Gennady Golovkin, the best fight that boxing can make.
But that was before we learned Alvarez had broken his thumb, meaning he?ll be out the rest of the year and waylaying his plans to fight twice more as a middleweight before facing Golovkin.
With HBO?s well-documented budget woes in 2016, though, does Alvarez?s injury provide an opportunity? Originally, Golovkin was supposed to fight Nov. 26, perhaps against Daniel Jacobs, and Alvarez was prepared to take the stage two weeks later, maybe against Willie Monroe Jr. or Curtis Stevens in what would have been a non pay-per-view fight.
But without Alvarez, who?s ranked No. 1 in the Forbes Pound-For-Pound Moneymakers list, perhaps HBO can take advantage of an opportunity. The network, of course, is disappointed that Alvarez can?t fight in 2016. After all, his third-round knockout of James Kirkland in 2015 drew an average of 2.1 million viewers, the most for the network in nine years. Losing that kind of potential viewership, especially in what is essentially a disappointing year of boxing on the network, is a tough blow. But it could provide an opportunity for Vasyl Lomachenko.
Promoter Bob Arum told the Los Angeles Times that Lomachenko, who?s fought just seven times as a professional but is already one of the best boxers in the world, will appear in an HBO fight in November. That means Golovkin, then, could move into the Dec. 10 spot Alvarez originally had taken. Recommended by Forbes Did Canelo Alvarez Really Make Gennady Golovkin An 8-Figure Offer To Fight? Boxing’s Top 10 Pound-For-Pound Moneymakers: Canelo Still No. 1, Crawford Falls,…
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As for an Alvarez-Golovkin showdown, Alvarez could take one of two options. He could stick to the original plan, fight in May (perhaps against Kell Brook?) and prepare for Golovkin in September. Or he could say he still wants two more fights at middleweight before giving Golovkin ? who already owns three of the four world titles in the division ? his shot. Tom Loeffler, Golovkin?s promoter, doesn?t seem concerned.
?Canelo is only going to fight GGG when he is ready to fight,? Loeffler told Forbes this week. ?We can?t control his schedule, we wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to making the biggest fight in boxing as soon as possible.?
Canelo Alvarez celebrates after knocking out Liam Smith last Saturday. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
After Alvarez?s win Saturday, his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, told reporters he had made Golovkin an eight-figure offer for the September 2017 fight but hadn?t heard back. Though Loeffler told Forbes he didn?t have any interest in negotiating through the media, he did tell the L.A. Times he had made a counteroffer to De La Hoya. ?A flat fee for a fight is usually given to a fighter or contender who?s clearly the ?B? side,? Loeffler told the Times. ?My offer back to [Golden Boy] was based on a percentage, just like we saw in the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao agreement.?
The counteroffer apparently was NOT well received.
For now, HBO?s stance is that the situation is fluid.
