Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya admits that he could have easily matched his biggest star, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs), against opponents who presented far less risk than Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs).
Last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, De La Hoya officially announced that a deal was reached for September 16th - with the venue and location to be determined.
Fans have been clamoring for this fight for at least two years and there was certainly doubt over whether or not this showdown would ever come off.
2016 was a real bad year for the sport, where mismatches were being made in abundance - and fans were getting fed up.
De La Hoya blames the blueprint left behind by Floyd Mayweather Jr., who retired back in September of 2015. Mayweather was often criticized by insiders, who often felt the former pound-for-pound king was usually following the plan of selecting opponents who made him the most money while presenting the least amount of risk.
De La Hoya says it was time for a change - which is why he finalized Canelo-Golovkin for Mexican Independence Day weekend.
"All these fighters are using the old model that Mayweather left behind where it's all about money, and therefore no fights are getting done," De La Hoya said to ESPN.
"It's different now. I made this Canelo fight with Golovkin for the sport, for the fans. Yes, there's a lot of money in this fight, but I could have made four smaller fights with Canelo that are not as risky as the Golovkin fight. But I was a fighter myself. I understand what the fans want, and therefore I made it happen. I understand the business, and most important, I understand what the fans want and need.
"This fight is the cherry on top of 2017. The year has shaped up to be really nice. Boxing fans can be very proud of what the fighters and promoters have done. I'm just happy I can deliver the biggest events of the year with Canelo. Everyone was trying to make a quick buck or an easy dollar. The difference now is they're making money, we're all making money, but we're taking risks. With risk comes reward."
And De La Hoya is taking the same approach with Golden Boy's new series on ESPN. He's matching his fighters in tough. The most recent broadcast saw two of Golden Boy's fighters get upset - when Yuriorkis Gamboa was stopped by Robinson Castellanos and Jesus Rojas knocked out previously unbeaten Abraham Lopez.
"I promised exciting fights, upsets and that's what we're getting. There's no stopping us," De La Hoya said. "I'm not going to tell my (matchmakers) to take it easy. There's too much action. I'm very, very bullish on growing the sport and keeping it alive and making it more exciting fights and building the next stars, the next champions on our ESPN series."