By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – The Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin predicament is becoming more and more personal by the day.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions’ president, expressed anger toward Abel Sanchez for some of the provocative statements Golovkin’s trainer has made about Alvarez’s PED ordeal. Sanchez has continually criticized Alvarez since he tested positive twice for clenbuterol in February, which led to the cancelation of the Golovkin-Alvarez rematch that was supposed to take place Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Following Golovkin’s second-round knockout of Vanes Martirosyan on Saturday night in Carson, California, Sanchez again questioned why Mexico’s Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) hasn’t re-enrolled in the WBC’s “Clean Boxing Program. Sanchez reasoned that getting tested while he doesn’t have a fight scheduled would at least show Alvarez is making an honest effort to prove to skeptics that he is a clean fighter.
Gomez emphasized Alvarez will submit to blood and urine testing by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association once contracts are signed for their rematch (https://www.boxingscene.com/gomez-canelo-start-testing-deals-done-ggg-fight--127996). Regardless, Golovkin’s outspoken trainer clearly has irritated Alvarez and his handlers.
“Abel is a crackhead, with the sh*t that he’s talking,” Gomez told BoxingScene.com on Wednesday during a promotional event for the Sadam Ali-Jamie Munguia fight Saturday night. “He’s just talking a bunch of nonsense, making all these accusations, just a bunch of f*cking nonsense. He’s got no idea and not everything he says is true. He’s making all these allegations and they’re unfounded. Talk’s cheap. Stop talking and let’s get the fight done.”
Gomez wants to resume negotiations with Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter, as soon as possible.
Alvarez and his team want to reschedule their middleweight championship rematch for September 15. The 27-year-old Alvarez’s six-month suspension should end four weeks earlier.
Loeffler also has stated that rescheduling a pay-per-view rematch with Alvarez is Golovkin’s top priority.
“We’ve had a couple of conversations,” Gomez said. “I’m letting him do his work. We’re ready to go. He knows what the deal is and it’s similar to the first deal we had in place. And it’s just a couple of tweaks here and there. I’m just waiting for him to call me. He’s doing his due diligence with his side, but we’re ready to go.”
When asked about a deadline by which they’ll need to finalize a deal to reschedule the rematch, Gomez said, “We’re not in a hurry, but we will soon [have a deadline]. We’ve gotta get it done by [the end of] this month.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
