Canelo Alvarez, GGG eye fall date for super fight with interim bouts before
We won't see the Canelo-GGG superfight this spring, but the two fighters' camps have a plan in place eyeing a fall date for a title unification bout.
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Canelo Alvarez was emphatic after his win over Miguel Cotto that he would not dodge Gennady "GGG" Golovkin in a unification bout. The two sides appear to be staying true to their word that a fight between the two middleweight stars will happen in 2016, but it won't be this spring.
The WBC has approved a plan that will have both Golovkin and Canelo fight interim bouts this spring, with Fall 2016 as the target for the superfight.
"For a big fight like this -- and when you look at how long some of the other big fights took to get made, it's not that long -- Gennady has a guarantee to fight 'Canelo' in the fall, or he'll have the WBC belt," said Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter, to the Los Angeles Times. "So that seems like a good deal to take."
Golden Boy Promotions negotiated the deal with Loeffler and the WBC to allow Canelo to fight on May 7 against an opponent to be named later -- they will decide who in January -- in order to ensure the superfight gets the promotional time and preparation time for the fighters it deserves.
"We had time constraints to get a deal together," Golden Boy Promotions executive Eric Gomez said. "It takes time for a mega-fight. Absolutely, it's going to happen, but the terms have to be right and satisfied. And it helps us build up the fight.
"We have a great relationship with [Loeffler], and Canelo told us over the weekend, 'I want to fight [Golovkin], that's the fight I want.' We told him we need time to get the right terms, ... we'll get those done and the fight will happen sometime in the fall."
Gomez also said that weight will no longer be hang up in making the superfight happen. Canelo has long insisted on fighting below the 160-pound middleweight limit, preferring to fight at 154 or 155 pounds, but according to Gomez that's no longer an issue -- this means we could have a true middleweight champion for the first time since Sergio Martinez (Cotto never fought at 160).
"Canelo vs. GGG is one of the most important events in the sport of boxing, and their promotional companies have been communicating openly and in good faith," said WBC President Mauricio Sulaimon in a statement. "The ultimate goal of all involved is to make certain that the best conditions are secured for their fighters and the boxing world.”
While Alvarez fights on May 7, Golovkin will likely fight in late March or April, per Loeffler. There were rumors of a possible co-feature with Golovkin and Canelo on the same May 7 card, but that will not happen.
Loeffler hopes to get a unification fight for Golovkin, which means WBA secondary title holder Daniel Jacobs or the winner of the WBO title bout between Andy Lee and Billy Joe Saunders are high up the list of potential opponents. The fight's location is to be determined as they look at options in New York, Las Vegas, Dallas and Los Angeles, per the Los Angeles Times.
