Gennady Golovkin-Saul Canelo Alvarez: it’s super-fight absolutely everyone is desperate to see, so much so that the WBA will not get in the way as the negotiations for the mega-fight take place. In the past, fight fans have grown weary of how one organisation or another has ordered a fighter to defend his title against a lesser foe simply because they place him in their rankings. This, on occasion, has prevented a much better fight, one the fans really wanted to see, from taking place.
Refreshingly, however, the WBA will not do such a thing ahead of the Canelo-GGG talks; even though the organisation could. Speaking with ESPN.com, Gilberto Mendoza Junior, the WBA President, said his governing body will not order Golovkin to fight their “regular” middleweight champion, Danny Jacobs – not while there is a good chance GGG will get that huge fight with Canelo.
“The WBA will not interfere in the Golovkin-Canelo negotiations because that is the fight the fans want,” Mendoza Jr. said. “However, should they not reach an agreement, [the] WBA mandatory fight for Golovkin will be against [Daniel] Jacobs.”
This is a good move by the WBA and a common sense move. Why try and prevent what is the biggest fight in the world today from happening? And Tom Loeffler, who looks after Golovkin, has confirmed that Golden Boy head Oscar De La Hoya did call him on Sunday (the day after Canelo’s brutal KO win over a brave but outgunned Amir Khan) as promised. Negotiations have now begun in earnest, but both Loeffler and De La Hoya have made it clear they will negotiate in private, not in the media.
“We are in discussions, but we have both agreed that we will not negotiate this fight in the media,” the K2 boss said. “From our side, we just want to get it finalized as quickly as possible.”
This is what the fans want. There is, it seems, reason for hope; perhaps real hope the fight will actually take place. The date being aimed for is September 17th (with the venue being one of the things to be ironed out: with Jerry Jones’ Cowboys Stadium very much in the running to host the huge fight) and if the fight does go ahead, a box office smash is a no-brainer. If, though, the fight fails to get signed, it will be a massively disappointing plan-b for Golovkin if he fights Jacobs instead.
No disrespect to Jacobs – who is a talented fighter who has already shown more heart and courage than anyone could imagine by overcoming cancer the way he did – but how could fans get excited about the prospect of GGG-Jacobs after being so close to seeing GGG-Canelo!
Let’s hope Loeffler and De La Hoya can give fans what they deserve and make THE fight a reality.
