Could a Golovkin vs Canelo superfight be in the works? GGG certainly wants it, but hear what Canelo’s team thinks about the idea right here.
This Saturday night, Gennady Golovkin may be fighting Dominic Wade, but that’s not the GGG match-up everyone – including Golovkin – is talking about.
Everyone says Canelo is a great champion, the idol of Mexico. The idol for what? For boxing? No. Or as a businessman? Right now, he looks like a businessman.
That’s Golovkin indulging in a bit of trash talk towards Canelo Alvarez in an interview with the LA Times. It’s out of character for the normally all smiles “big drama show” Golovkin. But listen to more from GGG, and it’s clear that the Kazakh powerhouse is more than a little fed up with Canelo and his team and the lack of a much discussed Golovkin vs. Canelo superfight:
I understand this decision is maybe 20% Canelo’s and 80% [his promoter], Golden Boy. It’s business, but it’s not respectful of boxing…For me, it’s about who’s the best? Who’s No. 1 in the division? That’s what’s No. 1 to me. Second is money.
As for Canelo’s team, they say a fight with Golovkin is possible, but it has to be on their terms. As Golden Boy executive Eric Gomez told the Times:
Anything is possible. Right now, [Alvarez] has a fight with Amir Khan and he’s concentrating on that. We’ll make a decision after the fight.
For Gomez and the Canelo team, a Golovkin vs. Canelo fight would be conditional on the two men agreeing to fight at a catchweight:
Canelo is not a middleweight … if Gennady really wants to make the fight, maybe we can talk about some catch-weight where Gennady comes down and Canelo goes up, but he’s truly a 154-pounder. If Canelo is giving up weight, Gennady should, too.
Canelo is the current WBC and Ring Magazine world champion at Middleweight (160 lbs). He won those titles from Miguel Cotto in November after competing primarily at 147 and 154 pounds in his career. Both Canelo vs Cotto and Canelo vs. Khan were scheduled as 155 pound catchweight fights, despite being for the 160 pound title. Golovkin holds the Middleweight title for the WBC (interim), WBA, and IBF. He has spent virtually his entire career at Middleweight, and has not yet indicated if he would drop down to 155 for this fight. Though with Canelo holding the greater drawing power, it seems such a move from GGG might be necessary if he wants to see the fight happen.
In the end, Golovkin has a message for Canelo Alvarez, and that message could not be any more clear:
You don’t want the fight, I understand, you’re 100% a businessman. So go fight Manny Pacquiao. But I wait, I’ve been waiting … let’s go fight.
Watch HBO World Championship Boxing Golovkin vs Wade this Saturday, April 23 with live fight night coverage here at Bloody Elbow.