LAS VEGAS — It’s no secret that I have had my (massive) differences of opinion with the WBC over the years on one topic after another.
But on this we agree: Middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez must fight Gennady Golovkin next as long as he defeats heavy underdog Amir Khan on Saturday (HBO PPV, 9 p.m. ET) at the new T-Mobile Arena.
Alvarez is the champion and Golovkin, who holds two major titles, is Alvarez’s mandatory challenger by virtue of his also holding the WBC’s interim belt.
It is the fight the fans and media want more than any other in boxing, and the WBC — to its credit — is doing what it has to in order to help it get done.
When Alvarez and Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya sought to avoid the fight after Alvarez beat Miguel Cotto in November to win the title, the WBC and Team Golovkin worked out a very reasonable deal with Alvarez’s team under which each man would take an interim fight, which would whet the appetite of the public for the fight even more.
Golovkin teed off on undeserving mandatory challenger Dominic Wade for two rounds on April 23 and Alvarez takes on Khan in his interim bout. Golovkin and Alvarez are supposed to fight in September, assuming Alvarez beats Khan.
Alvarez-Golovkin is the biggest fight in boxing if it happens, a sure-fire seven-figure pay-per-view event. But, so far, Alvarez and De La Hoya have refused to say outright they will take the fight despite enormous media and fan pressure.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman is not backing down from the terms of their agreement. He reiterated on Wednesday after the Alvarez-Khan final news conference at the MGM Grand that it must be the next fight or Alvarez would be stripped of his belt (although he would remain the lineal champion, because that has nothing to with the WBC).
“There’s an agreement between GGG and Canelo. They reached an agreement to do one fight [each] and then we will enforce the agreement and the rules,” Sulaiman told ESPN.com on Wednesday.
Amen.
If Alvarez wins, Sulaiman said the WBC would send out a letter to both camps ordering the free negotiations “probably Monday or Tuesday.” The sides would then have 30 days to conduct the negotiations and if a deal was not made a purse bid would eventually be ordered.
(By the way, if Khan wins, Sulaiman said he would also be ordered to fight GGG under the same rules, although Khan very well could return to his more natural welterweight division.)
Since taking over as president of the WBC following the death of his father and longtime president Jose Sulaiman in 2014, Mauricio Sulaiman has tried to become his own man while also honoring his father’s memory.
So far I think he has done very well balancing the two. While his father often caved in to friends seeking favors, Mauricio appears to be trying to do the right thing on the Alvarez-Golovkin issue as well as many others related to the WBC.
It would no doubt pain him to have to strip his Mexican countryman Alvarez if he refuses to accept the fight with Golovkin, but it is something he must do to show that his administration can be taken seriously.
“Triple G already won and he did his part,” Sulaiman said. “Out of respect for Amir Khan, we are trying to keep the focus on this [Alvarez-Khan] fight, but the agreement is clear. It’s public, it’s on paper and that’s the way to proceed.”
Alvarez and De La Hoya, of course, could save everyone a lot of angst and simply accept the fight with GGG if Alvarez wins Saturday. If not, Sulaiman, who has said all the right things during this delicate process, will have to act.
It will be Sulaiman’s moment of truth as WBC president and it will be time to show that he can talk the talk and also walk the walk.
