Random thoughts: Canelo has all the leverage and should exert it to the utmost
Let's see Joshua-Wilder anyway; Top Rank's great schedule; 20 years ago -- when HBO ruled; Khan-Brook; props to PBC and TGB; Ryan Garcia and Joe Goossen pairing; more
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It’s Canelo Alvarez’s world and we all just live in it.
So, the P4P king and undisputed super middleweight champion has been offered a two-fight deal by Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn and DAZN to fight light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol in May followed by a long-awaited third fight with rival Gennadiy Golovkin (at super middleweight) in September, as long as GGG takes care of business against Ryota Murata in their long-delayed middleweight unification fight.
That bout, postponed from December, is likely to take place in April as long as the Covid-19 situation in Japan, where the fight will take place, is under control. The money on the table for those fights, according to sources, is near nine figures.
But Canelo also has an offer from PBC for a pay-per-view fight in May to face middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo, who would move up in weight. I am told that offer was recently increased to a two-fight deal for Charlo in May followed by a September fight with former two-time super middleweight titlist David Benavidez, as long as Benavidez beats David Lemieux in a fight already set for May. I am told the money on the table for the PBC deal also approaches nine figures.
But Canelo is a promotional and broadcast free agent and he uses his considerable leverage to get the best short-term deals possible. He wants short-term deal so nothing stands in his way of making the biggest fights. So, he can seek a one- or two-fight deal if he wants.
What would stop him from seeking a one-fight deal with PBC to fight Charlo in May — a much more exciting and far more marketable fight than one with Bivol — and then going back to DAZN for the biggest money fight he can make, which is against Golovkin, in the fall?
Canelo is the face of boxing. He can call the shots and he should use every ounce of leverage he has. Who could blame him? It’s good to be the king.
When Anthony Joshua held three heavyweight titles and was undefeated and Deontay Wilder held one title and also was undefeated their camps seriously discussed making the undisputed championship fight. In fact, they had serious talks more than once.
This being boxing, of course, it didn’t happen. Both would go on to lose their titles by knockout. Joshua would regain his and then lose them again by decision last fall to Oleksandr Usyk, whom he is supposed to fight again in the late spring/early summer. Wilder, who has been stopped in his last two fights by Tyson Fury, including in their third fight last fall, has no set return date or opponent.