The team of Gennady Golovkin and the team of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez have staked their claims as the A-side of negotiations for a potential fight between their respective fighters.
Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez made an appearance via On The Ropes Boxing Radio where he addressed the catch-weight rigmarole.
Alvarez meets WBC World middleweight champion Miguel Cotto in a 155 lb. catch-weight November 21 at Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Last week, Canelo told Fight Hype that he would not fight Golovkin unless the fight were also at a catch-weight of 155.
At the WBC’s mandatory 30-day weigh-in last week, Canelo tipped the scale at 167.8 pounds, this despite months of training, which means that Canelo’s walking around weight could be as much as 180 pounds.
If Canelo beats Cotto, Sanchez suggested he vacate the belt because Team Golovkin will not fall into the catch-weight trap.
“Canelo hasn’t got a leg to stand on if he’s going to demand to fight at catch-weight,” Sanchez said.
“If he can’t fight at 160 pounds, then he can vacate the belt, and we can fight somebody else.”
Golovkin (34-0, 31 KO’s) has knocked out or stopped his past 21 opponents, including former IBF titleholder David Lemieux by eighth-round TKO on Oct. 17. He holds the WBA Super, IBF and IBO World, and WBC interim titles.
Golovkin’s promoter, Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, told World Boxing News that his fighter is considering a fight with Chris Eubank Jr. (20-1, 15 KO’s), who said in September that he would be able to exploit the weaknesses of Golovkin.
However, a majority of the boxing world does not think Eubank is ready for a world title shot.
Although he has won a majority of his bouts by knockout, Eubank was beaten by the undefeated Billy Joe Saunders by split decision last November, who fights the hard-hitting Andy Lee for the WBO middleweight title on December 19.
Saunders has admitted that he has no interest in fighting Golovkin for the next several years.
As far as pay-per-view numbers are concerned, Canelo has the edge. His last pay-per-view against Erislandy Lara did 300,000 buys a year ago, and his first fight back against Alfredo Angulo following a defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in March 2014 did 350,000.
Golovkin-Lemieux accumulated just 150,000 buys.
From a title perspective, Golovkin has the edge for reasons aforementioned.
A lack of unanimity always prevents a fight from happening and it is not just limited to Mayweather-Pacquiao. As long as the sides of Golovkin-Canelo continue to have their contretemps, the fight everybody wants to see, will have to wait.
-Ryan O’Hara @OHaraSports
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