Team Golovkin to Canelo: No catchweight, 160-lbs or vacate WBC title
K2 promotions managing director Tom Loeffler insisted that the potential superfight in 2016 between WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and unified middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin would not be on a catchweight-stipulated match, but rather at the full 160-pound limit.
Alvarez has been ordered by the WBC for a mandatory title defense against Golovkin, who along with the Mexican champ, will take on voluntary title defenses before facing each other in the boxing ring. Alvarez has been insistent on demanding a catchweight match against Golovkin, which was initially the reason why their unification bout was tentatively moved to September. But according to Loeffler, there would not be any weight stipulations in the Canelo vs Golovkin bout.
“In our particular instance against Canelo, there wouldn’t be any negotiations about the weight,” Loeffler said, reports Boxing Scene. “It would be two middleweight champion fighting each other at 160-pounds. Now if Canelo vacates the title and it becomes a voluntary fight down the road in 2017, then anything is negotiable – the money, location and weight.”
Loeffler also talked about Alvarez’s claims that it would be Golovkin’s advantage if the bout takes place at 160. He pointed out how the Mexican redhead rehydrates up to 175 pounds during fight night despite at catchweights below 155 pounds. Alvarez’s last four fights were at a catchweight of 155 pounds, but the Mexican middleweight looked huge in all of those bouts, which makes no sense for Canelo to ask for a fight at 155.
Meanwhile, Golovkin could step up to the super-middleweight class to fight James DeGale later this year, according to Loeffler. “GGG” has yet to find an opponent, although the undefeated Kazakh has been linked to a possible bout with WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders or Chris Eubank Jr.
"DeGale is another big fight in the UK,” Loeffler said, reports Sky Sports. “Sure, it's been discussed, that's something that's interesting on our side too. If the timing is right, if DeGale makes another couple of [IBF super-middleweight title] defences that fight could be out there by the end of 2016."
