Golovkin doesn’t want Canelo 3rd fight says Golden Boy pres. Eric Gomez

By Sean Jones

Boxingnews24.com

Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez revealed earlier today that former middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin doesn’t want a third fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez anymore, and that he prefers easy fights.

Gomez isn’t saying what transpired in the Canelo-Golovkin preliminary talks for him to come to the conclusion that GGG isn’t interested in a third fight with Canelo. It’s unclear whether Gomez is just trying to get Golovkin to accept a smaller purse split for the Canelo trilogy fight or if the Kazakhstan fighter is really no longer interested in facing the 28-year-old Alvarez for a third fight. Golovkin has made it clear that he wants a third fight with Canelo, so have to believe that Golden Boy wants GGG to agree to a smaller percentage than he received for his last fight with Alvarez. Taking a pay cut after the controversy of the first two fights would be a bitter pill for Golovkin to swallow at this point.

“[Looks] like he does not want Bamba de Canelo anymore. Prefers easy as before. We will see Friends,” Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez said on his social media site.

Golovkin received a 55-45 split in his previous fight against Canelo last September. Given the controversy over the results of that fight, with GGG being given a loss instead of a win, it’s understandable if he were now askig for a 50-50 deal for the third fight. Many boxing fans believe that Golovkin’s true record should now be 40-0 with 34 knockouts instead of the tainted 38-1-1, due to his two controversial fights against Canelo.

One would have to believe that DAZN wants Canelo to face GGG next on May 4, and that they’re likely letting Golden Boy know about that. DAZN just gave Canelo a big $365 million, 5-year contract. They obviously didn’t give Canelo all that money to see him fight obscure guys that have no drawing power, and no chance of beating him like we saw in his last fight against the hapless Rocky Fielding last December. That was not a great way for Canelo to start his 11-fight contract with DAZN. Canelo needed to start off with a quality fighter like Daniel Jacobs, Jermall Charlo, Billy Joe Saunders or Demetrius Andrade. Jacobs is a good fighter, but he won’t bring in the same amount of subscribers as Golovkin would in fighting Canelo. If all Canelo did was fight Golovkin for the next three to four fights, DAZN would do very well in increasing the subscribers to their platform.

Gomez’s hyperbolic comments could mean that GGG wants a better deal than the one that Golden Boy Promotions has offered to him for the trilogy fight. Golovkin got a very good deal for the second fight against Canelo last September. If suddenly, GGG is offered far less than what he previously received, then it’s understandable why he wouldn’t be willing to agree to a third fight with Canelo, especially given that Golden Boy Promotions have already booked the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for Alvarez’s next fight on May 4. That’s the same venue that both of the two Canelo vs. GGG fights have taken place, and both of those matches resulted in controversial decisions.

If Canelo doesn’t fight Golovkin next on May 4, then IBF middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (35-2 29 KOs) will likely be the opponent that faces the Golden Boy star on that date. After facing a weak opponent in his last fight against WBA ‘secondary’ super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding on December 15 on DAZN, Canelo needs to face a good fighter that will bring in subscribers to that platform. Canelo can’t face another obscure fighter or someone that is completely over-matched like David Lemieux, who some boxing fans feel was being positioned by Golden Boy to face Canelo on May 4. Before being hospitalized for dehydration after struggling to make weight for his canceled fight against Tureano Johnson on December 15, Lemieux was seen by fans as someone that was being positioned by Golden Boy to face Canelo for the May 4 fight. If Lemieux had beaten Tureano, he would have been in a great position to get the fight against Canelo on Cinco de Mayo. The way things are now, if Golden Boy puts Lemieux in with Canelo, the hardcore boxing fans are going to raise a huge cry and likely not bother to subscribe in arge numbers to DAZN to see the Canelo-Lemieux mismatch, which might be an even worse fight than the Canelo-Fielding contest.

Golden Boy Promotion CEO Oscar De La Hoya had a much different tone in talking about having had preliminary discussions with Golovkin for a third fight with Canelo on Cinco de Mayo on May 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unlike Eric Gomez, De La Hoya sounded hopeful in making the Canelo vs. Golovkin III fight.

“Last night, I had preliminary talks with Golovkin’s people. So we threw it out there about fighting for a third time, De La Hoya said to ESPN Houston. “Cinco de Mayo is the biggest week in boxing in Las Vegas. So we’re starting talks. Canelo is open to anything. Canelo is a fighter who wants to fight anybody to be great, and so a third fight is a possibility. We’re starting discussions, and we’ll see where it leads from there.”

Golovkin, 36, is a highly principled fighter, who feels that he deserved the victories in his two fights against Canelo. GGG doesn’t like the way those two fights were scored by the judges, and he’s unhappy that Canelo tested positive for clenbuterol last February while training for their rematch in May. The fight ended up being canceled, and Canelo was given a six-month suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Golovkin ended up facing replacement opponent Vanes Martirosyan, who was picked on short notice. In the meantime, Golovkin lost his IBF middleweight title, because he chose not to face his mandatory Sergiy Derevyanchenko in what would have been on short notice.

If Golovkin doesn’t face Canelo, it’s unclear who he would fight. There’s rumors that Golovkin is going to be signing with DAZN, which if true, it would rule out fighters like Jermall Charlo as an option for his next fight. The World Boxing Council plan on ordering Golovkin to face Jermall in a WBC middleweight eliminator, with the winner being the mandatory for Canelo. Jermall is already Canelo’s WBC mandatory, but the WBC wants to have him fight Golovkin in what would appear to be yet another eliminator. The boxing fans want to know why the WBC doesn’t simply order Canelo and Charlo to face each other instead of having Golovkin take care of his mandatory challenger.