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It’s not quite pen to paper, but we may just see one more fight between Canelo and “GGG” this fall.
It seems silly at a time like this to even be discussing potential fight bookings in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, but in case things do improve by the fall, we could see the trilogy between boxing stars Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin.
Sources told The Athletic’s Lance Pugmire that the two world champions have “verbally agreed on financial terms” for a third fight this September, potentially at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) and Golovkin (40-0-1, 35 KOs) fought to a highly controversial split draw in their first fight back in September 2017, with Adalaide Byrd’s 118-110 Canelo scorecard drawing widespread criticism from anyone with a functioning set of eyes and a brain. Their September 2018 rematch was much less controversial, with Canelo taking a majority decision.
It looked like when Canelo and Golovkin both signed with DAZN that a trilogy was inevitable. Instead, Alvarez wasn’t too keen on a GGG trilogy and took on Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev in 2019, but suddenly the whole dynamic has changed and it looks as if DAZN’s team has convinced the Mexican that a third fight is actually worth his time.
Golovkin, who turns 38 next month, started his six-fight DAZN contract with a KO win over the unheralded Steve Rolls, then he edged out Sergiy Derevyanchenko in October to win the IBF middleweight belt. It was a very close fight that could’ve gone Derevyanchenko’s way, and it was one of boxing’s better bouts of 2019.
In the meantime, Alvarez was scheduled to face Billy Joe Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) for Saunders’ WBO super-middleweight title in May, but the coronavirus outbreak nixed that date and now they’re looking to stage the fight in June. Golovkin’s next fight date is also June against Kamil Szeremeta (21-0, 5 KOs), who’s his mandatory challenger. The Kazakh power-puncher was supposed to fight sooner than that, but a calf injury delayed his return.
The Athletic also notes that there is a scenario where the timeline may play out as such that they skip the interim fights altogether and move directly to a September bout.