By Edward Chaykovsky
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya is not impressed with the pay-per-view buyrates being generated by IBF, IBO, WBC, WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs).
Last Saturday in New York's Madison Square Garden, Golovkin went the twelve round distance for the first time in his career when he defeated mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs in a tough fight.
The fight with Jacobs was Golovkin's second contest that was carried by HBO Pay-Per-View.
There are industry rumors that Golovkin's pay-per-view with Jacobs did no better than 160,000 buys - which isn't much higher than his 2015 pay-per-view fight against David Lemieux.
De La Hoya, who promotes Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, is in talks with Golovkin's team to stage a fight in September - should Canelo defeat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6t at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“[Golovkin's pay-per-view numbers] obviously shows you there’s only one pay-per-view guy and that’s Canelo,” De La Hoya said to the Los Angeles Times. “Because when Triple-G [Golovkin] and Jacobs does between 100,000 and 200,000 homes, it’s a big risk for me to put up a lot of money up front. So if we want to make this fight happen, we have to work with each other. It all depends on the pay-per-view and that’s the risk we all have to take.”
“People talk about Golovkin being this big superstar. Why is he selling only between 100,000 and 200,000 homes? He’s no Canelo, that’s for sure.”
Since the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2015, Canelo is the only boxer to be involved in a pay-per-view event that even came close to 1 million buys. His November 2015 clash with Miguel Cotto generated 900,000 buys. Canelo also led 2016 with the best performing boxing pay-per-view, as his May fight with Amir Khan brought in around 500,000.
The upcoming contest with Chavez Jr. is expected to be a big seller, especially with the large Mexican market in the United States.
De La Hoya is in the process of putting together a new deal, based on Golovkin's pay-per-view impact. The terms of that deal would have to be approved by Canelo, who is meeting with De La Hoya in the coming days.
Golovkin is planning to take another fight, likely on June 10th in his home country of Kazakhstan, and with WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders as the frontrunner to face him on that date.
De La Hoya issued a firm warning in a recent interview, that Golovkin's plan to go forward with a June fight could very well delay a September meeting with Canelo. The Golden CEO is worried that Golovkin could struggle, get cut, suffer an injury or potentially lose.
