By Radio Rahim
According to Gennady Golovkin's promoter, Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, the ongoing negotiations to finalize a September fight with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez are looking very good.
A few days ago, Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez, who represents Canelo, advised BoxingScene.com's Steve Kim that a deal to face Golovkin was "close."
The two sides have been negotiating since last year. Initially the issue was getting the two fighters to agree on the contract weight, but that obstacle is a thing of the past. The two sides are now getting close to reaching an agreement on the money - which for the last few months has been the biggest sticking point.
If a deal is reached, the fight would likely take place on September 16th as part of Mexican Independence Day weekend.
But before both sides can get in full gear, the two fighters have to overcome their upcoming assignments. Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) will defend his IBF, IBO, WBC, WBA middleweight titles against Daniel Jacobs on March 18th at New York's Madison Square Garden. And Canelo (48-1-1, 34 KOs) will move up from 154 to a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds to face countryman Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
"I've been talking to Eric Gomez since November. Like Eric said, it looks positive. From our side it looks like it will happen in September. If it was up to our side it would have happened last year. If it can happen this year, that's great. But first Gennady has to beat Danny Jacobs and Canelo has to beat Chavez Jr. You can never plan too far ahead, they are both risky fights. But if they are both victorious, then that is the biggest fight in the sport of boxing," Loeffler told BoxingScene.com.
"I think all of the broad strokes have been agreed to [between Golovkin and Canelo]. The weight was never really an issue. For Canelo, if he's victorious he actually has to come down [from 164.5] to fight Gennady. I think that [fight] has so many great elements to it. There is so much interest in that fight, but you can never really count things out [in their upcoming fights]. A lot of great fights have been planned, but never happen - so it doesn't make sense to get ahead of ourselves."
