De La Hoya on Canelo-Golovkin fight: 'It's gonna happen'
Oscar De La Hoya could not be any happier to have Saul “Canelo” Alvarez under his helms and the Golden Boy Promotions CEO has plenty of plans for the new WBC middleweight title, including a fight with undefeated WBO, IBF, IBO middleweight titleist Gennady Golovkin.
De La Hoya claimed that Canelo-Golovkin fight is “gonna happen” following the Mexican boxer’s unanimous decision victory over Miguel Cotto at Mandalay Bay on Saturday (AEDT Sunday). However, the Golden Boy Promotions head honcho admitted he will have to talk first to his team and Canelo to discuss about his next fight.
“Look, I can take a page from my mentor Bob Arum’s book and say, ‘Well, you’ve got to let it marinate,’ or I can go and say, ‘Let’s go! Let’s do it!’ ” De La Hoya said, the LA Times reported. “Let me talk to my team, let me talk to Canelo, discuss how he’s feeling … we don’t know, we’ll see.”
With the WBC mandating the winner of Cotto-Canelo bout to defend their title against Golovkin, it is almost certain that boxing fans could see a slugfest between the Mexican fighter and the Kazakh knockout artist next year. However, De La Hoya seems to be targetting a Canelo rematch against retired, pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.; with the Mexican’s next match slated in May and September 2016, which are major Mexican holiday weekends.
Meanwhile, Canelo confirmed during his post-fight conference that he is “ready” to take on Golovkin but the Mexican champ was adamant that it would be on his catchweight.
"Gennady Golovkin is a great fighter, and he is my friend," Alvarez said, reports the NZ Herald. "I have respect for him, but if we do fight, it's going to be at my weight class. I'm the champion, and I don't have to do what he wants."
Canelo has declared a couple of weeks ago that he would not fight Golovkin at full 160-pound limit, insisting that he is only fitted to battle at light middleweight. However, his history of rehydrating during fight nights to a little over 170 pounds suggests there should be no problem for Canelo meeting Golovkin at 160.
According to Mookie Alexander of SB Nation’s Bloody Elbow, it would be hard for Canelo to negotiate under for a catchweight, considering the mandatory title defense attached to his victory over Cotto. Moreover, Golovkin has already stated he is only focused on acquiring all the middleweight title belts and would not drop down to 154 or 155 pounds to fight Canelo.
Canelo vs Golovkin is clearly the fight that boxing fans would absolutely want to witness as both offer plenty of firepower in the boxing ring. While there is no guarantee yet if this potential megafight would happen, it is just a matter of time before the boxing world find out Canelo and Golovkin’s next move, with the WBC’s pre-fight agreement of 15 days for the former to begin negotiations with the Kazakh fighter or relinquish the belt.
Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au, or let us know what you think below.