Vinny’s Views: Memo To Oscar De La Hoya – Don’t Force Canelo Alvarez to Wear the Same Pantyhose We Know You Are So Found Of & Stop the Ridiculous Demands On Making a Match with Gennady “GGG” Golovkin!
By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci
If you’re the betting type, the last two weeks have provided some easy money if you bet the favorites in recent middleweight matches. Gennady Golovkin made short work of welterweight champ Kell Brook and Daniel Jacobs obliterated two time challenger Sergio Mora, while Canelo Alvarez dismantled junior middleweight champion Liam Smith clearing away the most anticipated fight since Mayweather, JR. Vs Pacquaio. Only problem is the 160 pound landscape is full of problems.
First and foremost, the boxing community at large have seriously questioned Canelo Alvarez’s heart when it comes to taking the challenge of fighting Golovkin. Canelo as great as he is has become a catchweight king of avoidance. Holding his linear WBC belt hostage by only wishing to defend it at 155 pounds had given credence to that notion. After every victory Max Kellerman puts him on the spot post-fight during victory speech trying to get a handle on his willingness to unify against “GGG”. His cocky and witty responses have been filled with macho bravado where he said he fears no man and is more than willing to fight Golovkin.
Trouble is his promoter Oscar De La Hoya doesn’t want his golden goose to take a loss and upset the carefully planned foray into the future boxing sweepstakes. A few days after assuring us the fight would be made Canelo dumped his title rather than be bullied into peer pressure taking the fight against people’s champion “GGG”. De La Hoya told press the fight would still be made most likely in fall of 2017.
Golovkin looked a bit peaked in winning four out of five rounds Vs Brook who happened to look ripped and strong at middleweight. A few well-placed uppercuts had fans and scribes wondering why Brook was able to land such vicious shots but they disappeared after the second round? The bout was halted by Kell’s corner who threw in the towel in the fifth as Golovkin was on a tear to drop his challenger. Post-fight x-rays have determined that “GGG” cracked Kell’s eye socket. The previous day Daniel Jacobs wreaked havoc on a timid Mora who simply did not want to engage in battle. Next up this past weekend Canelo went to wage war against highly game but over matched Smith in nine rounds. All three stoppages were predicted here in advance by yours truly.
As the fires for Golovkin Vs Alvarez continue to get fanned the alphabets who recognize the boxers as champions which afford them the popularity to secure mega pay per view paydays have stepped in to demand mandatory matches halting this fight at least until May of 2017. Gennady holds the IBF, WBA, IBO and WBC titles while Billy Joe Saunders holds the last hold card, the WBO belt. The World Boxing Association has mandated that Golovkin must unify with interim champion Daniel Jacobs. HBO is interested in promoting the fight as early as December 10 on its pay per view arm. In ironic juxtaposition the World Boxing Organization has decreed that Canelo fight mandatory contender Demetrius Andrade who was the former bet holder who had been stripped due to inactivity but now fighting and back in good graces. Both these fighters make fantastic warm up possibilities leading to final obstacle in a showdown next year. While some early observers have speculated that Canelo might again vacate his belt rather than take on the formidable challenger who stands 6’1” and owns a perfect resume of 23-0, 16 KO’s the press has learned this week that Alvarez suffered a fractured thumb in his title winning effort and would be out of action for the remainder of the year that has bared witness to several top flight boxers with broken hands.
Making matters worse among the fanfare De La Hoya has issued the first shot claiming his fighter is the “A” side to the future promotion and telling Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez “if you’re not happy with the offer than good luck…..” Problem here for seriously in denial Oscar is that there is no “B” side to a fight of this magnitude. Somehow forgetting that “GGG” has the belt collection, a 23 knockout streak in place and has been the most avoided middleweight since Ezzard Charles and Charley Burly staked the division sixty years ago but for different reasons. Golovkin has simply disseminated all challengers without ever truly being tested himself. Some overzealous haters have rationalized that Golovkin was “exposed” in his bout with Brook. This line of reasoning positively irritates me as the challenger was pounded into submission in less than five rounds and escorted to hospital with fractured skull. With possibly 100 million dollars or more to be generated by this fight, why the hell should “GGG” settle for 10% of the gross plus some profit margining from PPV sales after they reach certain goal markers.
Fact is, nowhere on earth can Canelo command the kind of payday he gets for a Golovkin match. Oscar knows it but he is counting on the wisdom of Sanchez to simply discard the offer and walk away. This mega fight is history in the making but has been stalled and delayed two years already. As we learned with Floyd and Manny every fight has an expiration date. De La Hoya has constantly told the press his man will fight “GGG” but then presents unlikely time frames or throws unreasonable stumbling blocks in path of getting the promotion off the ground. It’s high time Oscar get past the “panty hose” scandal and grow some stones he was famous for in his hall of fame career where he ducked no one.
Interestingly Bernard Hopkins who is part of Oscar’s Golden Boy Promotions has been quoted as telling Jim Lampley on the Fight Game that he believed the fight would come off by popular demand, yet recently interviewed has called on Golovkin to move up and challenge the super middleweight and light heavyweight division. This in itself is a hoot for lack of better word. The history of Champions and top contenders avoiding Gennady at all costs has been well documented. If middleweights fear to enter the ring and ply their chosen trade with him why must he vacate just to make their lives easier? Where the hell is their courage? While “Bhop” has gone up in weight to take on bigger challenges and win the hearts and minds of the boxing fraternity no one ever asked him to do so. His resume has become hall of fame ready as soon as he officially retires and allows the five year interim to elapse. Short term memories aside no one ever dared ask Marvin Hagler to travel north 15 pounds to tangle with light heavyweight Michael Spinks simply because he was head and shoulders above his competition.
Sanchez no fool to promoting a fight or ignorant of popular demand asked Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions to issue a counter offer of a 60/40 split in Alvarez’s favor. The request was more than just reasonable, it was practical. De La Hoya and Golden Boy are running out of ideas to keep Gennady at bay and all the waiting in hopes that someone else would take “GGG” down first have failed.
Oscar is doing his client a severe disservice by his continual refusal to logistically get both sides together. A guaranteed fight of the year already warrants a rematch clause which would make both fighters even richer. Sadly a few boxers have come forward expressing an opinion that Golovkin should move up yet don’t ask some demand of Canelo. Hell, he owned a middleweight title it’s not like anyone is asking him to jump through hoops of fire blindfolded!
Canelo enters ring at 170 plus so all the banter that he has been a 154 pound fighter is nothing but a spit bucket in disguise. We all know Canelo has proven himself to be a warrior over a glorious eleven year career but De La Hoya is sending out the wrong message and fans are beginning to question that status and re-examine that resume. Oscar has been around the block before in many a mega fight and knows that in a fight of this magnitude there are no losers.
Stay tuned…
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