Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, who promotes Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs), explained that his boxer deserved everything that he received in the tense negotiations to finalize a rematch with IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs).
The two fighters went through a whirlwind discussions period - where their rematch was deemed "dead" on at least three occasions.
Initially, Canelo offered Golovkin a split of 75-35 to make the second fight.
As time went forward, the split became smaller and smaller - and a deal was reached with a 55-45 split in favor of Canelo.
Golovkin and his handlers claimed Canelo and his ego were a big issues in reaching a deal for the second contest, which takes place on September 15th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
"The negotiations are the negotiations. The bottom line is that we have a fight. Obviously we know who the A side is, and that's Canelo Alvarez," De La Hoya said.
"We obviously know that all of Mexico is behind Canelo Alvarez. Everywhere I go, everywhere we walk, the Mexican National is behind Canelo Alvarez, and I strongly believe that, look, Canelo going into the ring last, wanting to win those belts, for honor and pride."
De La Hoya feels confident that all of the support from the Mexican fans will only motivate his boxer even more to secure a very clear victory.
"You know, he's going to show it up in the ring, and we strongly feel that you know, it's a big advantage and once that first bell rings, you know, we have a fight. So we strongly feel that, look, whatever the negotiations were, we're extremely happy with and the fans are going to be even happier when they see a fight on September 15," De La Hoya said.
The first contest, in September 2017, ended in a controversial twelve round split draw.
