Canelo-Golovkin: It All Falls On De La Hoya

One week after middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin won a hardly contested fight against Danny Jacobs people could not hold their tongues as the debate on a Canelo-Golovkin showdown is hotter than ever. Most feel Canelo will easily win his May 6th fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr setting up the mega-fight that the fans have been begging before since May of 2016. While negotiations have been lackluster over the last six months, a September showdown has been promised by both sides time and time again.

That said, it would appear as though one side is making it harder, yet again. Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya, who many put the full blame on for a Canelo-Golovkin fight not taking place in May or September of 2016, has gone on record this week stating two things that have made many people outlash at him and once again making it seem as though Golden Boy and Canelo want nothing to do with Golovkin inside of the squared circle.

After releasing the PPV buys for Golovkin-Jacobs De La Hoya stated that he will be pulling the offer that they have on the table for Golovkin and revising it. De La Hoya believes that Golovkin isn't the draw they thought, or so he says, and that a new offer needs to be proposed. That likely means a lower offer than Golovkin had. In case you haven't been following the story team Golovkin was not keen on the $10-$15 million dollar flat fee offer that Golden Boy had proposed. Team Golovkin has been sitting on the offer though, never turning it down, but trying to get a better one that includes a percentage of everything the event has to offer. Another roadblock, that Oscar De La Hoya is now claiming, is that he doesn't want Golovkin to fight June 10th. Golovkin is planning on taking on fellow middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in Kazakhstan on June 10th. To anyone that has followed Golovkin's career he is accustomed to fighting 3-4 times a year. He doesn't like waiting six months in between fights. According to Oscar De La Hoya, if Golovkin fights June 10th then they will not be able to proceed with a September bout. De La Hoya claims that there isn't enough time to promote the fight. He also claims that Golovkin could get injured, or lose.

At this point it's very hard to tell if Oscar De La Hoya wants Canelo to fight Golovkin at all. There is the belief that he is trying to hold it off for as long as he can so that Golovkin gets old and Canelo has a better chance of winning. There is also the belief that De La Hoya believes if he keeps on pushing the fight back like Mayweather-Pacquiao, that the fight will eventually produce record breaking PPV numbers. However, the common belief is that Oscar De La Hoya doesn't want Canelo anywhere near Golovkin because Golovkin will beat him and when that happens Golden Boy loses it's biggest profit maker. It is a thought that is baffling since losing one fight doesn't stop someone from being a star. Ask Oscar himself.

From the very start of this Canelo-Golovkin fiasco there has been one common denominator that many put the blame on. Oscar De La Hoya. De La Hoya has come up with excuse after excuse as to why Canelo-Golovkin is not happening. It's gone from weight, to money, to Golovkin isn't a draw, to Golovkin needs to fight someone to prove himself, to it needs time, and now bold enough to even tell Golovkin what he should do while he waits for a contract that may never be good enough.

Every excuse Oscar De La Hoya has come up with has been contradicted by himself. Weight was an issue but yet Canelo is fighting at 164 against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Golovkin is putting 20K seats in Madison Square Garden each time out against guys that aren't really big draws. That is something that only Miguel Cotto has been able to do. He has now beaten Danny Jacobs who many consider the second best middleweight in the world. It has now been over a year and a half to marinate. The only excuse that he has left is the purse situation, which is usually always the hold up in trying to make big fights.

The longer this fight waits the more fans will continue to blame Oscar De La Hoya and Canelo for it not happening. Canelo's reputation has taken a huge hit. Maybe not in terms of selling tickets and PPV's, which has been pretty consistent over the last 4 years, but it terms of pride. Every time he tweets something people reply with comments like "fight Golovkin" "Your a coward" "Stop being scared of GGG" "Your a diva" and on and on. This is a Mexican fighter who has bravely gotten into the ring against dangerous foes like Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout. Canelo made himself a star by taking the dangerous fights to prove himself to be the best yet the last year and a half of his career has been overshadowed by the perception that he is afraid to step into the ring with Gennady Golovkin. For years Floyd Mayweather got destroyed by the public for not fighting Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather was able to handle with with a smile. Canelo, however, has shown frustration over it. Being called a coward, or being portrayed as ducking, doesn't sit well with him.

It's time for Oscar De La Hoya to put his fears aside and make this fight happen. If Golovkin fights on June 10th and loses then he can scrap the September showdown. Many think that's all he wants to do anyways so what does it matter if Golovkin loses or gets hurt? He is not allowed to tell Golovkin that he cannot fight. Ninety days is plenty of time to promote a fight. The promotion for this fight started over a year ago anyways. As far as "renegotiating" his original offer. That's as bogus as an excuse as they come. Golovkin's number fighting unknown fighters to the casual fan is around the 150K range. Canelo's number fighting unknown fighters to the casual fan is the 300K range. There's a good chance Oscar is going to try to use the Canelo-Chavez Jr PPV numbers to bully around Golovkin at the negotiation table as well. That is another bogus move because Chavez Jr still sells, especially against Canelo. If Golovkin had fought Chavez Jr that 150K number would be way higher. Would it be as high as a Canelo-Chavez Jr fight? No. But no one is arguing that Canelo isn't the A side against Golovkin. The argument is put out a fair number so everyone is happy and the fight can be made. At the end of the day all the fans want to see is the best fight the best. Ironically enough, that has been Oscar's motto for the last three years.