By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Eric Gomez didn’t elaborate on what he meant by close.
Nevertheless, Golden Boy Promotions’ president said Wednesday that the company is “close” to finalizing a deal for a long-awaited Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight for September. Gomez quickly added, though, that negotiations for an Alvarez-Golovkin fight could become irrelevant if Alvarez doesn’t defeat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in their Mexican showdown Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena (HBO Pay-Per-View; 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT; $69.99 in HD).
“We’re close and I think we can get the fight done,” Gomez said before an Alvarez-Chavez press conference Wednesday afternoon at MGM Grand. “But obviously we have to wait and see what happens this Saturday. That’s the most important thing. If he loses, there is no Golovkin fight.”
Gomez and Tom Loeffler, managing director for Golovkin’s promoter (K2 Promotions), have continued to negotiate for Alvarez and Golovkin to finally fight September 16. Sunday will mark the one-year anniversary of the night Alvarez demonstratively promised that he would fight Golovkin next, immediately after he knocked out Amir Khan in the sixth round last May 7 at T-Mobile Arena.
Since emphatically making that promise in the ring, Alvarez has instead opted to fight England’s Liam Smith, whom Alvarez knocked out in the ninth round on September 17, and Chavez. Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez’s promoter, has said that an Alvarez-Chavez rematch is possible for September 16 if Alvarez wins a competitive and entertaining fight.
Gomez emphasized, however, that they want Alvarez-Golovkin next.
“Obviously, we want him to win by knockout,” Gomez said. “I think that would be exciting and that would get people really interested [in Alvarez-Golovkin]. But I think that if he has a close fight [against Chavez], just like Golovkin did with [Daniel] Jacobs, it still merits a good fight with Golovkin. Our plan is to fight Golovkin in September. But we have to get past Chavez first.”
Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) had his 23-fight knockout streak stopped by Brooklyn’s Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs), who boxed well in a competitive fight that might’ve made Golovkin appear vulnerable enough for Alvarez to fight him next. If the heavily favored Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) knocks out Chavez (50-2-1, 32 KOs), it would at least eliminate an Alvarez-Chavez rematch as a possibility for September.
“I think that if he’s able to knock out Chavez, I think that, you know, [Golovkin is] the fight,” Gomez said. “That’s the fight that should be next and that’s the fight that we want. It’s just a matter of tying up some loose ends and getting it done.
“If it’s a close fight with Chavez, then, you know, we’ll sit down and we’ll talk to the kid, and see what he wants. But I think that the focus has always been, and we’ve been saying this for a year now, it’s always been to fight Golovkin in September. But we can’t move without having this fight on Saturday.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.