It’s not looking likely that Canelo Alvarez’s next fight will be a shock move to take on light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
There’s been some news swirling around in recent days that middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) could bypass a trilogy with Gennady Golovkin (39-0-1, 35 KOs) and instead move up to light heavyweight for a matchup with WBO champ Sergey Kovalev (33-3-1, 28 KOs).
Not so fast.
Sports Illustrated and DAZN reporter Chris Mannix reported on Tuesday that Golden Boy Promotions did make a formal offer to Main Events, Kovalev’s promoter, but apparently it was one that failed to impress.
Golden Boy has made an offer to @KrusherKovalev‘s promoter, Main Events, for Kovalev to defend his light heavyweight title in September, a source familiar with the offer told @SInow. The offer was “extremely low” — less than what Jarrell Miller was scheduled to make against AJ.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) July 2, 2019
To clarify on what “extremely low” entails, Jarrell Miller was expected to earn in the neighborhood of $6 million for his fight with Anthony Joshua, but Miller was yanked from the bout after failing several drug tests. Kovalev’s previous career high purse was $2 million for his first bout against Andre Ward, but that was before getting a cut of the pay-per-view profits. When Daniel Jacobs fought Canelo this past May, his official purse was $2.5 million but it’s been widely reported that he earned in excess of $10 million.
Kovalev does have an actual scheduled title defense for August 24th against Anthony Yarde (18-0, 17 KOs), but Top Rank’s Bob Arum said that a deal is in place for the Russian to slip out of that fight and take on Canelo if the fight gets made. However, the initial offer combined with a deadline to determine whether to take the Yarde bout or face Canelo may lead to this surprise matchup being shelved.
Kovalev is up against a deadline to make a deal to defend his title against Anthony Yarde — he has to sign for it this week — and with Golden Boy starting this low, the feeling right now is there will not be time to work out a deal.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) July 2, 2019
Kovalev plans to move forward with the Yarde fight, per source, while his team will be ready for “more serious negotiations” if Kovalev successfully defends his title in AUGUST.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) July 2, 2019
Canelo is supposed to fight on September 14th, which is Mexican Independence Day weekend. However, a lingering issue with his left knee could potentially push his return towards the end of the year. Either way, don’t expect Canelo vs. Kovalev this fall.