By Radio Rahim
Ringstar Sports CEO Richard Schaefer is very familiar with Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo Alvarez (48-1-1, 34KOs).
Schaefer, when he held the position of CEO at Golden Boy Promotions, promoted several of Canelo's biggest fights - including the bouts against Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Austin Trout and several others.
He left Golden Boy in June of 2014, a little over a month before Canelo's scheduled fight with Erislandy Lara.
Schaefer credits Canelo with being the biggest draw in the sport, and one of the best fighters in boxing - but he's not impressed with Canelo's recent pay-per-view figures. Canelo's fight with Amir Khan, in May, took in about 500,000 buys. And his fight last month with Liam Smith raked in around 300,000 buys.
"I think Canelo is clearly the biggest draw today. I don't think there is anybody else who can sell 40 to 50,000 tickets. He's the biggest draw, no question about it. And I tend to think as well, that Canelo is one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters in the world," Schaefer told BoxingScene.com.
"As it relates to promoting his pay-per-views, I probably would go about it a bit different because I don't think those numbers are that impressive. I don't think so. I'm not promoting him anymore, so I'm not going to be giving people my blueprint."
At the moment, the biggest fight in boxing is a showdown between Canelo and WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs). The fight is being discussed for next September, but there is a lot of criticism - from fans and media - over Golden Boy's refusal to stage the contest this year.
Schaefer says if he was still in charge of Canelo's career, the fight would have probably happened by now, and by this point in time there would be ongoing negotiations for the rematch.
In terms of the outcome, Schaefer is backing Canelo all the way.
"If I was at the helm that fight would have probably already happened, we probably would already know who won and who lost, and we probably would be talking about the rematch - which would be huge by the way. But it hasn't happened, but I would make it happen now [if it was me]. I would make it happen in May. I know it's going to be a great fight and I personally think that Canelo is going to win," Schaefer explained.
"I know the kind of warrior that Canelo is. He's gotten better with every fight. The guy is f***ing unbelievable. He is going to take care of business with Golovkin, I have no doubt about it. And that's why 'what are you waiting for' - go and do it [in May] and then you can do it again in September and he can give Golovkin a chance at a rematch."
