By Keith Idec, photo by Tom Hogan/Hoganphotos
NEW YORK – Gennady Golovkin’s promoter cannot see how the mere scheduling of a Golovkin fight June 10 in his native Kazakhstan would jeopardize making a Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez fight in September.
Tom Loeffler, managing director for K2 Promotions, said Monday that if Golovkin defeats Daniel Jacobs on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden and wins against an undetermined opponent June 10 in Kazakhstan, there still would be plenty of time to properly promote a highly anticipated Golovkin-Alvarez showdown in September. Loeffler’s contention was a response to a question about Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez telling ringtv.com last week that a Golovkin fight June 10 in Kazakhstan, probably against WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, would “screw up the plans” for Golovkin-Alvarez in September.
“There’s a lot of different speculation out there,” Loeffler said before a press conference at Madison Square Garden to promote Golovkin-Jacobs. “But based on the experience from last year, what [trainer] Abel [Sanchez] outlined, [to] wait for other people to decide – if there’s an opportunity for him to fight in June, he will. And there’s plenty of time to promote a fight in September, if that’s the case. But certainly nothing’s signed for any future fight, and so we’re waiting to see what happens on Saturday.
“And if it’s possible for him to fight in Kazakhstan in June, he would certainly like to do that. And if he can fight Canelo in September, he would like to do that as well. But Gennady and Abel are focused on Saturday. It’s my job to look forward. And like I said, based on last year, with only two fights, we have to make up a lot of ground from what he normally likes to fight – three, four times a year.”
Loeffler also indicated that Gomez hasn’t conveyed concerns to him about Golovkin fighting June 10 during discussions they’ve had recently.
“In the conversations I’ve had with Eric, that hasn’t been an issue,” Loeffler said. “I think that didn’t come from Eric. But either way, we can’t base his schedule on something that might happen in September. That’s our position on it.”
Gomez’s comments to the website Golden Boy Promotions owns have created even more speculation about the Golovkin-Alvarez fight not coming off in September, despite promises from “The Golden Boy” himself, Oscar De La Hoya. Loeffler remains hopeful, however, that what he considers “the biggest fight in boxing” will materialize after Golovkin wins two more bouts by June 10.
“With Golden Boy, we’re still in regular communication with Eric Gomez,” Loeffler said. “And there’s really no update. If we can make the fight, certainly we’ll do it. I mean, Gennady has said he wanted to fight Canelo since last year, since Canelo called him in the ring after the fight [against Amir Khan]. He would prefer to be in the ring, in a fight [against Alvarez].
“But if there’s a way to make it happen for September, everything I’ve heard from Golden Boy is they’ve always said September of this year. So there’s no reason for me to question that. Naturally, Gennady has to win Saturday night. It’s a big test for him, against his most dangerous opponent, against Danny Jacobs. And clearly Canelo has to win May 6 against Chavez, which we all think he’s gonna be in a tough fight. If Chavez is in shape, that’s gonna be a tough fight for Canelo as well.”
The reason to question Golovkin-Alvarez coming to fruition in September obviously is based on what Gomez told ringtv.com last week.
“If he makes a fight with Saunders, that will screw up our plans for Canelo,” Gomez said. “That would impact us. So I’m not aware of anything with Saunders. We’re talking and he’s talking about making the [Golovkin-Alvarez] fight in September. If he tries to do a fight with Saunders, that will screw up the plans.
“We need enough time to promote a big fight. You have to do the [media] rounds. You have to do all these TV shows. There’s so many plans we have and we’ve talked about promoting a big fight. You need time.”
If the heavily favored Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) beats Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) on Saturday night and Saunders (24-0-1, 12 KOs) or someone else June 10, organizers of Golovkin-Alvarez would have more than three months to promote it. And Golovkin wouldn’t necessarily need a full two-month training camp before facing Alvarez because he already would be in shape and sharp from participating in two full training camps in 2017 for the Jacobs and Saunders fights.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.