Back on March 18th, at New York's Madison Square Garden, Gennady Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) looked vulnerable for the first time in his career.
He won a hard-fought twelve round unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs to retain the WBC, WBA, IBO, IBF middleweight titles. The fight was close, with scores of 114-113, 115-112, 115-112.
Coming into that fight, Golovkin had never gone the twelve round distance and stopped 23 opponents in a row.
Last Saturday, fans were on their feet when it was officially announced that a deal was finalized for Golovkin to defend his titles against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) on September 16.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, who promotes Canelo, denies any insinuation that Golovkin's struggles against Jacobs was a motivating factor in their decision to finalize the fall fight.
He says the negotiations were all about the financial terms.
“It was not about Jacobs. It was about understanding who the ‘A’ side is, who the star is,” De La Hoya said to the Los Angeles Times. “The Triple-G side understood the numbers and the facts.”
Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, who handle Golovkin, felt the timing was perfect to finally make the Canelo fight.
“It’s a huge opportunity for Gennady to finally be involved in a fight like this,” Loeffler said without revealing terms. “The [financial] pie is so big, it wouldn’t make sense not to do it.”
Golovkin had been calling for Canelo since the fall of 2015, when the Mexican star captured the WBC middleweight title with a decision win over Miguel Cotto.
The WBC made Golovkin the mandatory challenger to the title and tried to press Canelo to make a deal - but that only angered Canelo, who vacated the belt and dropped down to junior middleweight. The WBC would later name Golovkin as their new full champion by default.