Canelo won’t factor in GGG’s decision in choosing TV partner

Boxingnews24.com

By Sean Jones: Former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin plans on waiting until after the Christmas holidays before he makes his decision about what television network that he signs with. Saul Canelo Alvarez not be a factor in Golovkin’s decision about his television partner, according to ESPN Deportes.

GGG is shopping around to fine a network to televise his fights after his previous deal with HBO Boxing expired. HBO is no longer going to be televising boxing, so there was no chance for Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) to resign with them even if he had wanted to. Golovkin will make his decision about his TV partner early in the next year in the second week of January. Before then, GGG will be talking to his advisers during the holidays to help him make an informed decision in which TV partner to sign with. Wherever the 36-year-old Golovkin lands next, he will likely stay with them for the remainder of his boxing career.

According to Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez, the desire for a third fight against Canelo Alvarez is not going to factor in with the decision by Triple G about the TV network he signs with. Golovkin is going to sign with the best TV network that works for his career.

“I do not think necessarily [for GGG] to get the third with Canelo, he has to sign with a certain network…if they are both with the same [network] or with different chains, the only thing is that they will be forced to work together, “ Sanchez said to ESPN Deportes. “The important thing is that Gennady is a guy that people want to see.”

With Canelo now signed with DAZN, Golovkin is the biggest star that is available on the free market. DAZN has made no secret about their desire to add GGG to their company. DAZN would like to have Canelo and GGG fight each other on their streaming service. But even if they don’t fight a third time, for whatever reason, it would still be beneficial to DAZN to have Gennady and Alvarez signed with their company

DAZN landed Saul Alvarez recently in signing him to their company with a 5-year, 11-fight deal for $365 million. If Canelo makes it through the entire five-year contract, it should take him close to the end of his prime. Canelo will be 33-years-old by the time his lucrative contract with DAZN expires, and he’s made it clear that he intends on retiring by the time he’s 35-years-old. Canelo doesn’t want to stick around in boxing and fight into his 40s like some fighters do.

The fans are eager to see what kind of contract Golovkin will receive with DAZN if he signs with them. There’s a lot of money he can make in being with DAZN; not just with the the contract, but with the potential of him fighting Canelo a third, fourth or even a fifth time. As long as the future Canelo-GGG fights are competitive, there’s nothing stopping the two fighters from facing each other more than just three times. However, the judges needs to improve for their fights so that the boxing public has faith in the system. The fans are not going to want to continue to see Canelo and GGG fight each other if they don’t trust the judging.

Besides DAZN, Golovkin has met with ESPN and Premier Boxing Champions to hear what kind of deal they’re offering hi.

“Gennady has talked to everyone and he will decide after Christmas and New Year,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez isn’t sure if GGG will stay at middleweight or move up to super middleweight to campaign at that weight. Golovkin would have some great options at 168 in fights against Callum Smith, George Groves, David Benavidez, Jose Uzcategui and Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. Those are just some of the interesting fights that would be available to GGG if he moves up to 168. One of the beneficial things for Golovkin in moving up to super middleweight is the fights would likely be easier for him to make. Trying to negotiate a third fight with Canelo will very difficult given Golovkin’s controversial 12 round majority loss to the Mexican star last September. Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions will use his victory over GGG as leverage to get a wider purse split in his favor. Golovkin might find himself being offered a much smaller split than what he received in his last fight against Canelo. If GGG is willing to swallow his pride and accept the smaller purse split, then a third fight with Canelo could be an easy match to make, as long as they’re both with DAZN. But if Golovkin signs with another company, and asks for the same purse split or better than the one he received for the second fight with Canelo last September, it could be difficult for the third fight to get negotiated successfully.

Golovkin will be back inside the ring in late April to early May, according to Sanchez. It will depend on who GGG signs with, and what weight he fights at. Sanchez is hoping Golovkin will continue fighting for the next three years. That of course will depend on how successful he is in his next few fights. Golovkin took a lot of punishment against Canelo in their second fight. GGG can’t let Canelo or any fighter land those kinds of shots in the future if he wants to stick around for another three years in boxing. GGG likely would have used his jab a lot in the rematch with Canelo, but with the way the judges scored his first fight with the Mexican star by ignoring his jabs, it made it necessary for him to slug more. That played into Canelo’s hands, considering that he’s a counter puncher, and he needs his opponents to come at him for him to be able to land his shots. Sanchez wants Golovkin to fight five or six more times. That comes out to three years, as GGG fights roughly two times per year. Until last year, Golovkin was fighting three times per year, but he’s slowed his activity down due to the lengthy amount of time it’s taken for his promoter to negotiate the tougher fights.