De La Hoya: Khan Real Threat To Canelo, Can’t Talk Golovkin Yet

By Keith Idec

Oscar De La Hoya entertained questions about Canelo Alvarez fighting Gennady Golovkin and, to a lesser extent, a Miguel Cotto rematch during a conference call Tuesday.

Alvarez’s promoter explained why, however, he is reluctant to commit to the Alvarez-Golovkin fight most boxing fans want to see.

“We’re obviously focused on May 7th,” De La Hoya said, referring to the Alvarez-Amir Khan fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “We’re not gonna talk about possible opponents. We strongly feel that Amir Khan [presents] a real threat and we have to focus on Amir Khan. And after the fight, we’ll sit down once again and decide what we’re gonna do.”

The prevailing feeling among those within the boxing industry is that Alvarez will fight someone other than Golovkin next, assuming the heavily favored Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) defeats Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs) on Saturday night in Inglewood, California, and Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) beats England’s Khan (31-3, 19 KOs). The Mexican superstar will defend the WBC middleweight title against Khan at a catch weight of 155 pounds, five beneath the middleweight limit, and has repeatedly said Kazakhstan’s Golovkin must come down in weight to face him.

Regardless, De La Hoya wanted to focus Tuesday on Alvarez’s HBO Pay-Per-View main event against Khan.

“Because in boxing you never know what’s gonna happen,” De La Hoya said. “I cannot talk to you and say that Amir Khan is an easy fight, because it’s not. There’s a rematch clause in place for a reason, because Amir Khan is a real threat. I cannot commit to something when this fight hasn’t even happened.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing