By Keith Idec
HOBOKEN, N.J. – Abel Sanchez hopes their promoters can come to an agreement soon for Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez to fight again sometime next spring.
If that happens, Sanchez doesn’t expect Golovkin to box before facing Alvarez again. According to Golovkin’s trainer, there’s simply too much money at stake in an Alvarez-Golovkin rematch to take a bout in between.
“If they fight in May, I think we’d be foolish to take a chance,” Sanchez told BoxingScene.com on Wednesday. “They shouldn’t take that chance.”
Sanchez spoke during a media workout for one of his other fighters, IBF cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev. Russia’s Gassiev (24-0, 17 KOs, 1 NC) will oppose Poland’s Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (53-3-1, 37 KOs) on Saturday night in the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) is spending time with his family in Southern California and is optimistic about getting an immediate rematch with Mexico’s Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs). The IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion fought to a controversial 12-round draw with Alvarez in an HBO Pay-Per-View main event September 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Tom Loeffler, managing director for K2 Promotions, said in the immediate aftermath of that bout that Golovkin would return to the ring sometime in December. It appears more likely, though, that if Loeffler can come to a rematch agreement with Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez’s promoter, Golovkin won’t fight until then.
Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez said Tuesday that scheduling an Alvarez-Golovkin rematch for some time in March is a possibility, but that it’s more likely it would take place May 5 (https://www.boxingscene.com/canelo-golovkin-golden-boys-prez-open-rematch-march--121521).
“We’re just hoping that Tom and Oscar and Eric can come together on the fight soon,” Sanchez said. “I think it’s a fight that needs to happen. We shouldn’t wait until September [2018] – I don’t think, anyway. That’s too long. But if it does happen, hopefully it happens on that Mexican holiday, May the 5th [Cinco de Mayo].
“I think the buildup to May or March, whenever it may be, needs to be just that – a buildup to show people that they wanna go at each other again. They need to promote it in a way that they have time to do it. That way we can draw a little more interest to it.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.