Boxing News: Golovkin could fight Canelo on Cinco de Mayo weekend, predicts report

Unified middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin could jump at the chance to fight WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez as early as May, with both fighters still scrambling to find opponents for their voluntary title defenses.

According to Dan Ambrose of Boxing News 24, there is a chance Golovkin could cash in on his mandatory title bout against Alvarez on the Cinco de Mayo weekend. Golovkin, as well as Alvarez, is running out of options for a worthy opponent in their next outing, which means both fighters could square off on May 7.

“My guess is Golovkin would jump at the chance to fight Canelo on Cinco de Mayo on May 7th in Las Vegas, Nevada,” Ambrose wrote. “However, I’m not sure that Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo would be too excited at the idea of having to fight Golovkin now rather than waiting for either September or years from now to face him.”

Golovkin and Alvarez are set for a massive boxing showdown this year, after the WBC mandated the latter defend his title belt against the former. Their fight was originally scheduled right after Alvarez won his middleweight belt against Miguel Cotto last year, but due to a conflict of interests from both camps, the governing body ordered them to take on voluntary title defenses before meeting each other in the boxing ring.

Golovkin is scheduled to have a voluntary title defense on Apr. 23 at the Madison Square Garden against his IBF mandatory challenger Tureano Johnson. However, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN, Golden Boy Promotions have ruled out Johnson for a potential clash with the undefeated Kazakh in April because of a nagging shoulder injury, which the middleweight contender originally suffered in his win against Eamonn O’Kane in October.

"Tureano will come to the States for a second opinion," Golden Boy Promotions' Eric Gomez said. "But for the time being the fight with GGG is off. We will not allow him to fight until he is 100 percent medically cleared."

Meanwhile, Alvarez has also been looking for a big shot opponent for a fight that will be televised on HBO PPV. So far, the options for Canelo are Willie Monroe Jr, Liam Smith, and Gabriel Rosado, but none of the three are capable of drawing huge pay-per-view numbers.

Besides Golovkin, Cotto seems to be the likely candidate if Alvarez really wishes to have huge PPV buys in his next fight. However, Cotto looks inclined on fighting a returning Juan Manuel Marquez, according to World Boxing News.