Although Oscar De La Hoya recently said that talks regarding the demanded return fight between middleweight king Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez were “slow going,”it was a more upbeat De La Hoya who spoke with TMZ Sports yesterday. The Golden Boy head said that the fight the whole world wants to see “is definitely gonna happen” and that the rematch will take place at the exact same venue as the first fight: The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“We’re working on that for Cinco de Mayo of next year – in Las Vegas, at the same place, T-Mobile,” De La Hoya told TMZ. “But that fight is definitely gonna happen. That’s the big fight – it’s gonna be huge. If people didn’t see the first one, wait until the second one – it’s gonna be huge.”
Of course the world did see the first fight back in September, and almost everyone was unhappy with the verdict of a draw that saw both men get their hands raised. Most fans and experts felt GGG definitely did enough to have earned the decision win – Teddy Atlas going as far as to suggest major corruption is at work in the sport. It was due to the backlash the verdict received that the notion was put forward for the rematch to take place somewhere other than Las Vegas; with plenty of people suggesting how Canelo ‘cannot lose a decision in Vegas.’
But now, according to De La Hoya, the return will indeed go down in Vegas. Of course, nothing is official yet – and will GGG and his team agree to fight Canelo in Vegas a second time? Both fighters seem to really, truly want to fight again, so concessions may well be made during the ongoing negotiations.
Fans will take the rematch wherever it is held, such is the sheer demand for the sequel. But if the fight goes down to the wire once again, and if we see another controversial decision, fans will very possibly moan and groan about another “Vegas decision.”
Or can either GGG or Canelo put an end to all doubt by scoring a stoppage win next May? De La Hoya says it’s gonna be big. If the rematch is even bigger than the first fight, boxing itself will be the real winner.
