Canelo vs. Jacobs: WBC to create special belt for fight

By Sean Jones

Boxingnews24.com

The WBC will be creating a special artisan belt for the May 4 unification fight between Saul Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two fighters are already putting up their world titles for the unification match on DAZN, but the World Boxing Council decided to create another one for the heck of it.

Canelo (51-1-2, 35 KOs) will have his WBA/WBC middleweight titles on the line, whereas Jacobs will be putting up his IBF 160 lb title. The WBC adding yet another title to the mix won’t have an impact on the fight itself. The real question is will the WBC be asking for an extra sanctioning fee for their new title they create for the occasion. If so, then it’s Canelo and Jacob’ best interest to have the WBC made up belt on the line for the fight unless a complimentary strap.

The winner of the Canelo-Jacobs fight will hold the IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight titles. The only belt not in possession of the winner will the WBO title, which is held by Demetrius Andrade. He’s with Matchroom Boxing USA-DAZN promoter Eddie Hearn, which means it’ll be an easy fight to be made for the winner of the Canelo vs. Jacobs fight.

The rationale for the WBC to create a special belt for the Canelo vs. Jacobs fight is to celebrate the 56th anniversary of the World Boxing Council.

“We are already preparing the belt ‘Adolfo Lopez Mateos’ for the weekend of Cinco de Mayo with Canelo-Jacobs and it will be spectacular, it will be difficult to overcome the Huichol belt and the Chiapas belt, but we are excited,” Sulaiman said to ESPN Deportes.

Canelo, 28, is the favorite to win this fight, but it’s still one that is hard to predict given the size of the 5’11 1/2″ Jacobs. He’s a lot taller than the 5’8″ Canelo, and he possesses a great jab, movement and his power is second to none in the 160 lb weight class. What Canelo has going for him is his popularity, and the fact that he’s going to be fighting at favorite venue at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on the night. Canelo has lucked out in two fights against Gennady Golovkin in the past when fighting at the T-Mobile Arena in questionable decisions. The first fight with GGG was scored as a 12 round draw. A lot of boxing fans saw Canelo as the clear loser in that fight. Golovkin chose to go back to the same venue for the rematch with Canelo, and he wound up losing the fight by a controversial 12 round majority decision in a fight that fans saw as either a draw or a win for Golovkin. In hindsight, GGG would likely have rejected fighting Canelo in Las Vegas a second time if he could foresee what would happen to him in his rematch with the Mexican star last September. The question is, would Golovkin have still gotten the rematch with Canelo if he rejected Nevada as a suitable place for the second fight to take place? Would Canelo and Golden Boy have felt strongly enough to walk away from the GGG second fight just because they couldn’t get him and his management to agree to a Las Vegas fight? If so, then what’s so magical about fighting in that city? All we know is Canelo has now been involved in two controversial fights the last two times he’s been in Las Vegas against GGG, and he’s now back to the same venue at the T-Mobile to fight Jacobs in a unification match on Cinco de Mayo on May 4. Jacobs lacked the popularity to get his way with Canelo and Golden Boy in the negotiations. Had Jacobs dug in his heels and refused to fight Canelo in Las Vegas, he might have wound up with no fight against him, which is kind of sad, really. If Canelo and Golden Boy felt so strongly about fighting Jacobs in Las Vegas, that they would walk away potentially from the fight it didn’t take place there, why would they? Couldn’t the match have taken place in Texas, Los Angeles, California or better yet, New York?

Will Golovkin sign with DAZN?

There’s a lot of interest in the Canelo vs. Jacobs fight, but even more in a fight involving the winner taking on Golovkin. However, GGG still hasn’t made up his mind whether he’ll sign with DAZN or not. He’s being courted by Premier Boxing Champions, ESPN, DAZN, as well as another network that K2 Promoter Tom Loeffler hasn’t named yet. It’s believed that if Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) fails to sign with DAZN, then he wont be getting the trilogy fight against Canelo. Being signed on a different network will make it very hard if not impossible for Triple G to meet up with Canelo or Jacobs due to him being potentially being on a different platform as them. Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing USA promoters obviously are hoping that Golovkin will sign with DAZN, as there aren’t a lot of options for Canelo to fight. Without Golovkin, Canelo’s options boil down to these fighters:

– David Lemieux

– Daniel Jacobs

– Demetrius Andrade

That’s basically it for Canelo. He has three guys he can fight with DAZN, and that’s it. The rest of the fighters that are with different platforms could potentially be out in the cold. WBC interim middleweight champion Jermall Charlo is Canelo’s mandatory challenger to his WBC middleweight title, but the sanctioning body has been slow in ordering the fight. It’s unclear whether the WBC ever will get around to ordering Canelo to defend his WBC title against Charlo. It took the WBC five years before they finally pressed former WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson to face his mandatory challenger in Oleksandr Gvozdyk. It’s been 2 years already since Jermall became the WBC middleweight mandatory in 2017 after knocking out Jorge Sebastian Heiland in the 4th round. If the WBC waits another three years before they finally order Canelo to face Charlo, there’s a good chance that one of the two will have lost by that point, so it won’t be an issue for the sanctioning body to order the fight. Charlo almost lost his last fight against 36-year-old Matt Korobov last December in a fight that many boxing fans thought Jermall deserved to lose. We already know about Canelo with him having two controversial fights against GGG, as well as his positive test for the banned substance clenbuterol last February. Canelo says he ate meat that contained the clenbuterol substance. A lot of boxing fans think Canelo was cheating in order to gain an edge against the powerful Golovkin. As far as GGG goes, if he doesn’t sign with DAZN, then it’s probably the end of the road as far as him getting a third fight with Canelo and/or a rematch with Jacobs, who he already beat two years ago in 2017. Of course, there will be a lot of disappointed boxing fans if GGG doesn’t sign with DAZN, and winds up never facing Canelo again. It’s end of the world for Golovkin. If he signs with Premier Boxing champions, then he’s got the options to fight the likes of Jermall Charlo, Jermell Charlo, Jarrett Hurd, Tony Harrison and Erislady Lara. Those would be interesting fights, especially GGG vs. Jermall, which might end up on PPV. It would’t be as big a fight for Golovkin as it would in a trilogy fight against Canelo, but you can argue that the judging wouldn’t as much of a concern for Triple G in facing Charlo. Charlo isn’t a superstar, who means a great deal to Las Vegas like Canelo is. Golovkin might have a better chance of getting a decision against Charlo than he ever will against the highly popular Canelo if the fight goes to the scorecards, which it probably wouldn’t. Charlo doesn’t fight with his back against the ropes the way Canelo does, and he would be coming to fight the entire time. Either Charlo would get knocked out or GGG. If Golovkin signs with DAZN, then he’s going to be looking at fights against Canelo, Andrade and Jacobs. Golovkin already beat Jacobs, so there’s no point in fighting him again. Jacobs was running the first half of the fight. Before the fight, Jacobs skipped the secondary weigh-in on the morning of the fight. That wouldn’t be an issue for a rematch between them, but it’s still not a fight that does anything for GGG. Andrade is a slick southpaw, who moves a lot. There’s nothing for GGG to gain in fighting him either. So the only fight that would be worthwhile for Golovkin in signing with DAZN would be a trilogy fight with Canelo, but will it be worth it for GGG if he has to fight him in Las Vegas and deal with the potential scoring issues like in their previous two fights together in that city. Moreover, if Golovkin has to fight Andrade or Jacobs first in order to earn the third fight with Canelo, then it’s not a good deal either.