SAN DIEGO – There was a lengthy period where Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez never again wanted to hear any talk of a possible third fight with Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin.
The desire to once again do business with Matchroom Boxing and DAZN helped soften that stance, as did the big pile of cash that comes with it.
“I just wanted to work with this guy again,” Alvarez told BoxingScene.com as he put his arm around promoter Eddie Hearn after a press conference to formally announce his WBA light heavyweight fight versus Dmitry Bivol.
The fight will take place May 7 atop a DAZN Pay-Per-View event from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It marks Alvarez’s return to DAZN following a one-fight absence to complete his undisputed super middleweight championship run. Alvarez (57-1-2, 39KOs) agreed to a one-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) and Showtime Pay-Per-View for a showdown with Caleb Plant (21-1, 12KOs), whom he stopped in the eleventh round of their lineal/WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO championship last November at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The deal reached with Matchroom calls for Alvarez to first move up in weight for his challenge of Bivol (19-0, 11KOs), in a bid to become a two-time light heavyweight titlist. A win by Guadalajara’s Alvarez will then set up the fight that DAZN always wanted upon first signing the Mexican superstar—a trilogy bout with Golovkin, who first has to get past Ryota Murata in their April 9 IBF/WBA middleweight title unification clash in Saitama, Japan.
“I hope so,” Alvarez quipped when asked if he believes Golovkin, now 40, will get past Murata. “But with this deal, they wanted a fight with Golovkin. So I said, ‘Why not? Everyone wants (me to) fight Golovkin, right?’
“Maybe a little late, maybe not, but everybody wants the fight.”
Alvarez showed minimal interest in ever again doing business with Golovkin (41-1-1, 36KOs) following their September 2018 rematch. Alvarez claimed a twelve-round, majority decision win to hand Golovkin his first defeat along with ending his WBC/WBA middleweight title reign.
The fight came exactly 52 weeks to the day of their first fight which ended in a disputed twelve-round draw. In between came a four-month delay for the rematch, after Alvarez tested positive for Clenbuterol to cancel their scheduled May 2018 sequel. Alvarez was issued a retroactive six-month suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission from the time of the positive drug test in February 2018, even after submitting a hair sample and receipts to prove he unwillingly ingested the substance through contaminated meat—an ongoing epidemic in Mexico.
It didn’t stop Golovkin and his team from relentlessly going after Alvarez through the press, labeling him a drug cheat throughout the buildup and, to a lesser degree, after their rematch. Golovkin has also remained strong in the belief that he deserved to win both fights, particularly their first meeting in September 2017.
Still, both fights did very big business at the box office, enough to where DAZN believes there still exists the possibility of catching lightning in a bottle. With Alvarez warming up to the idea, the platform finally has the mainstream attraction it has long sought—along with a grudge match for the sport’s pound-for-pound king, and the chance to silence his longtime rival.
“Yeah, it’s personal. He talks a lot of sh!t,” insists Alvarez. “He says a lot of things. We’ll see.
“First things first. We still have to win May 7. I am one percent focused on May 7. After that, we will talk about that fight.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox