De La Hoya warns GGG: Fight Canelo or I’ll find someone else

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose:

Oscar De La Hoya seems to be running out of patience with middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin not agreeing to fight Saul Canelo Alvarez yet for a rematch in September. De La Hoya wants Triple G to know that unless he signs to fight Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) again, he’s going to find someone else for him to fight, and it’s going to be someone good.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO De La Hoya isn’t say who Canelo will fight instead of Golovkin in September, but it’s believed that #5 WBO Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan (28-2, 20 KOs) is waiting in the wings to step in and face the Mexican star on the Mexican Independence Day holiday. O’Sullivan fought in the co-feature bout on the undercard of Golden Boy prospect Ryan Garcia’s last fight on May 4 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. O’Sullivan, 33, stopped welterweight Berlin Abreu (14-2, 11 KOs) in the 3rd round.

”He doesn’t want to fight,” De La Hoya said to TMZ.com about Golovkin not wanting to fight Canelo. ”Our priority is to make Canelo vs. GGG.”

Right now, De La Hoya says Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) doesn’t want to fight Canelo. He thinks GGG is afraid to face Canelo after the problems he gave him last September in their fight that was scored a 12 round draw at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Golovkin got the better of Canelo in rounds 3 through 9, but Canelo came on in the last 3 rounds to pull out a 12 round draw. However, Canelo’s two positive tests for clenbuterol and his failure to enroll in a drug testing program have caused Golovkin to resist signing for the rematch.

Regardless, Canelo’s fighting in September, so it’s all gravy,” De La Hoya said. ”He’s going to fight the toughest guy out there. But we want Triple that’s for sure.”

It’s going to be laughable if Canelo fights Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan instead of Golovkin, Jermall Charlo, Danny Jacobs or Sergiy Derevyanchenko in September. Two years ago, Canelo vacated his WBC middleweight title after he was ordered to fight Golovkin by the World Boxing Council. Canelo then moved back down to 154 and challenged then WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith for his title.

At the time, De La Hoya was telling the media that the reason they selected Liam Smith is because they felt that he was the ‘best fighter’ in the 154lb weight division. At the time the junior middleweight division was stacked with talented fighters like Jermall Charlo, Jermell Charlo, Erislandy Lara, Demetrius Andrade and Jarrett Hurd. Liam Smith was not at the same level as those fighters.

It’ll be bad if Canelo faces O’Sullivan, because it’ll be just like when Canelo appeared to duck the Golovkin fight and face Liam Smith instead of one of the good contenders or champions in the division.

If Canelo doesn’t fight Golovkin in September, it won’t be the “toughest guy out there,” as De La Hoya says. If you take Golovkin out of the picture for September, the toughest fighters in the middleweight division are Jermall Charlo, Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders, Demetrius Andrade, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Ryota Murata.

O’Sullivan is seen as the next tier down in quality in comparison to those fighters. O’Sullivan is a B-level fighter at best. There’s been no mention of Golden Boy wanting to match Canelo against Charlo, Jacobs, Saunders, Andrade, Murata or Derevyanchenko. The only name that have been mentioned for Canelo is O’Sullivan. He’s not a name that will excite the boxing masses, as he’s already been well-beaten twice by Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr. O’Sullivan has won his last 6 fights, but none of them were good opponents.

”Sure, as soon as he signs the fight, he’s on the program,” De La Hoya said.

De La Hoya says Canelo will wait until Golovkin signs for the rematch before he starts drug testing again. De La Hoya had said recently that Canelo would be tested often, but it hasn’t happened since the suspension started. Canelo’s last test for PEDs came in the first week of April, and that was a month ago. He’s been untested since them. If Canelo and Golden Boy are using the drug testing as leverage to get GGG to sign for the rematch as fast as possible, then it looks bad. Golovkin wants Canelo to be tested right away, but if he can’t make that happen unless he signs for the rematch, then it puts pressure on GGG to ink the contract as quick as he can so that he can know for sure that he’s not using PEDs.

Canelo said he didn’t take clenbuterol knowingly last February. He states that his two tests that came up positive for clenbuterol were from meat contamination. Canelo reportedly turned in receipts to the Nevada Commission where he ate meat in Mexico at a restaurant. Canelo tested negative for clenbuterol a hair follicle test.

Golden Boy president Eric Gomez feels this is proof that Canelo wasn’t using PEDs, because if he had been knowingly using it for gain, the substance would have been there in the tests. Canelo’s hair follicle test was negative. Therefore, he wasn’t using clenbuterol. At least that’s what the negative hair follicle test is supposed to mean. The science isn’t there yet for the test, so the only test that the Nevada Commission can reliably go by is the urine test for Canelo, which turned up positive twice for clenbuterol last February.

Canelo can still make a lot of money even if he doesn’t fight Golovkin in September. Canelo is the No.1 pay-per-view fighter in the U.S, and he’ll likely be able to bring in a minimum of 300,000 PPV buys on HBO even if he faces a fighter like O’Sullivan. Canelo fighting on the Mexican Independence Day on September 15 will help him bring in a lot of PPV buys without the need for him to fight a good opponent. Canelo’s boxing fans will pay to see him fight anyway, regardless of who he faces.

Golovkin, 36, wants Canelo to enroll in VADA random drug testing in the months before he starts training camp for their September 15 rematch. Golovkin doesn’t want Canelo to be free from drug testing in the months leading up to the start of training camp, because he’ll have no way of knowing during that time whether he’s cycling on clenbuterol or anther performance enhancing substance. GGG wants to know for certainty that Canelo isn’t loading up on clenbuterol in the next three months before he starts training camp. Canelo was given a 6-month suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission at their hearing on April 18, but they didn’t have the jurisdiction, according to Yahoo Sports News, to order him to be tested during this time.

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