By Victor Salazar
New York, NY - Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez considers himself to be the middleweight champion of the world - because as the saying goes 'he beat the man who beat the man' at 160.
However, waiting for a shot at the middleweight crown is the consensus best middleweight in the world, IBO/WBA/IBF champion Gennady Golovkin, who just happens to be Canelo's mandatory for the WBC middleweight title.
Canelo was given a voluntary defense that he chose to take against Amir Khan at a catch weight of 155 lbs on May 7th. Whatever happens after, Canelo says the fight with Golovkin will happen.
“I think that fight is going to happen but those things don’t come together so fast because there are things that go on behind the scenes,” Alvarez told reporters in New York. “It’s a fight I want to happen. I’m not in charge of the negotiations but it’s a fight that takes the fight to happen.”
Canelo told reporters that a fight with Miguel Cotto that generated over 900k buys on pay-per-view took three years to come to fruition.
“Just look at the Miguel Cotto fight, it took three years for us to make it,” explained Alvarez. “We were negotiating with Top Rank and then we had to negotiation with Roc Nation after he switched promotions. I wanted it but it took three years."
Negotiations and the terms have to be right for Canelo to get in the ring with Golovkin because Canelo feels he deserves to call the shots and not give any concessions.
“I’ve sacrificed my body and a lot of things in my fights with Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather and in this moment, I’m not out to give advantages to no one and not GGG. I’ve given advantages in other big fights so the fight will happen but the conditions have to be right where I feel comfortable and where he thinks he feels comfortable.”
