By Keith Idec

Gennady Golovkin and his handlers would love fight Canelo Alvarez at Madison Square Garden on May 5.

But if their rematch takes place at T-Mobile Arena, the same Las Vegas venue where they fought September 16, Golovkin is prepared to go back there. Their middleweight championship rematch was officially announced Monday, but the site hasn’t been solidified.

Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter, told BoxingScene.com on Monday that he’ll do everything within his power to ensure Golovkin gets treated as fairly as possible if MGM Resorts International, which co-owns T-Mobile Arena, out-bids Madison Square Garden and brings their rematch to Las Vegas.

Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) settled for a 12-round draw with Mexico’s Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) four months ago because one judge, Las Vegas’ Adalaide Byrd, suspiciously scored a fight Golovkin seemingly won 118-110 for Alvarez and another judge, Connecticut’s Don Trella, scored it even. Judge Dave Moretti, of Las Vegas, scored the fight 115-113 for Golovkin.

Byrd’s scorecard for Golovkin-Alvarez is generally regarded as one of the worst submitted in boxing history.

“There’s naturally some trepidation,” Loeffler said regarding returning to Las Vegas for the rematch. “But we’ll try to eliminate any questions. If we can all agree on who’s the most credible and experienced judges, that’s why there’s three judges, not one judge. So if one has an off night, you figure the other two should be able to pick the right winner.

“Last time, one of the clearest rounds for Gennady was scored the wrong way on one of the judges’ scorecards. I don’t wanna focus on the judging for the next fight, but I’m sure both sides will be focused on the judges that are gonna be selected, to make sure that we get the most fair and credible scorecards that night.”

Golovkin’s previous 23 fights resulted either in knockout or technical knockout victories for the IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion. His fight against Alvarez, who regularly boxes in Las Vegas, was Golovkin’s first appearance in the city that’s billed as “The Fight Capital of the World.”

Loeffler confirmed that unless another serious suitor emerges, T-Mobile Arena and Madison Square Garden are the two sites under consideration for the Alvarez-Golovkin rematch. He expects Madison Square Garden executives to submit “a significant bid” and anticipates they’ll make a decision within “two or three weeks.”

“We had a great time in Las Vegas,” Loeffler said. “We’ve promoted a number of shows in Las Vegas, never had any issues with Las Vegas itself or the commission. It’s just that one judge had a score that stood out from everyone else that saw the fight. To Nevada’s defense, the judge that had it a draw, we didn’t agree with his scorecard, either, and he wasn’t from Las Vegas. So just because a fight lands in one particular city, it doesn’t mean all the judges are from that particular city. I’ll go through all the judges from the Nevada Commission and the sanctioning bodies. And together with Golden Boy, we’ll try to make sure to have the most experienced, most competent judges involved in the fight.

“All we want from both sides is to have fair scoring. May the best man win. The unfortunate thing is when you do have a scorecard or two scorecards that stand out, then it just casts a shadow over the event and over the sport. People should be talking about what happened in the ring, not the judging. So this time around [Golden Boy Promotions president] Eric [Gomez] and I will be discussing it with the Nevada Commission and hopefully we can eliminate any controversy from the judging side.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.