Venues from all over the United States are getting their checkbooks ready - for the highly anticipated fight between Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) and IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs).
The fight was officially announced last weekend, following Canelo's twelve round decision win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Only two things are concrete at the moment. The fight will take place on September 16th, during Mexican Independence Day weekend, and HBO Pay-Per-View will carry the event.
As previously reported, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, who promotes Canelo, received an offer to host the event at Dodgers Stadium in California. De La Hoya met with Magic Johnson, Dodgers chief financial officer Tucker Kain and Lon Rosen, the team’s executive vice president of marketing and communications.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has vowed to secure the contest for AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas - and the MGM Resorts want the contest for T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
But another venue from Texas is also ready to ante up some money - the Alamodome in San Antonio. Canelo drew over 40,000 fans to the venue in 2013 when he won a tough decision over Austin Trout.
“We’ve been talking to the people we know, telling them that we’re interested,” Alamodome general manager Nick Langella said to the San Antonio Express.
“Hopefully, they’ll give us an opportunity. It’s tough when (it comes down to) writing the check."
The fight would certainly match the 1993 attendance record at the Alamodome, when 65,000 came to Julio Cesar Chavez take on Pernell Whitaker for the WBC welterweight title. The fight produced a $12 million live gates.
As far as Texas goes - AT&T Stadium is certainly the frontrunner and one of the main overall candidates to grab the fight.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, who is the son of Jerry Jones, reiterated their interest in staging the event at AT&T.
"We would sure like to be considered,'' said Jones to the Dallas News. "We haven't made a bid but we're hopeful of getting in the mix on that.
"They know we want to do it. They'll have to contact us. We've told them we're interested when that fight comes around. We just have to see where they're interested in using us.''
Most insiders believe the event will still end up in Las Vegas.