Golovkin
World champion Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakhstan reacts after defeating Martin Murray of England during the WBA-WBC-IBO Middleweight World Championship in Monte Carlo, early February 22, 2015. Golovkin defended his title, defeating Murray in the 12 rounds. Reuters/Eric Gaillard

A potential superfight between current WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and unified middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin may not happen until 2018, according to GGG’s trainer Abel Sanchez.

Sanchez is not buying any talks about this year’s potential fight between Alvarez and Golovkin, which is tentatively scheduled in September. Sanchez claimed there would not be a fight between the two middleweight boxing stars until 2018, citing Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya’s smart move not to feed Canelo immediately to the undefeated Kazakh.

“I don’t think Canelo wants to fight Triple G and we won’t see Canelo [fight him] until probably 2018,” Sanchez said, reports Boxing Scene. [Canelo’s promoter] Oscar [De La Hoya] has got to be smart. If Golovkin wasn’t there [at 160-pounds], Canelo would be at middleweight.”

Alvarez was initially mandated to defend his WBC title against Golovkin after the Mexican won the belt over Miguel Cotto in November last year. But due to uncommon interests from both fighters on the potential fight, particularly at the catch-weight talks, the governing body decided to give Alvarez and Golovkin a voluntary title defense before the two square off in the boxing ring.

However, even with the WBC ordering a mandatory bout, there is a growing sense that a fight between the two would not happen anytime soon, with Alvarez seemingly dodging Golovkin. The 25-year-old Mexican said in a recent interview that a Canelo vs Golovkin bout would happen eventually, but admitted “major fights” take time to materialise.

“Major fights like this [Canelo vs Golovkin] take time,” Alvarez told ESNEWS as translated by Boxing News 24. “It’ll happen eventually, but it’ll take time. There’s a lot of negotiations back and forth. A lot of business aspects come into play, so it’ll happen.”

Meanwhile, Alvarez is set to face British welterweight Amir Khan on May 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, while Golovkin will fight upcoming American boxer Dominic Wade on Apr. 23 at the Forum in California as part of the boxers’ voluntary title defense.

RELATED STORIES