By Miguel Rivera
Promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, who handle IBF, WBA, WBC, IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs), is hoping that a deal can be reached sooner than later for a rematch with Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs).
The two sides have already began discussions after last weekend's controversial ending.
Canelo and Golovkin fought to a very entertaining twelve round split draw. Both sides believes they were robbed of a win, but much of the post-fight attention has centered on a scoredcard of 118-110 in favor of Canelo.
The two remaining judges had it scored 115-113 Golovkin and 114-114 for the draw.
A rematch could happen in May of 2018, during Cinco De Mayo weekend, which is when Canelo intends to return.
If Golovkin is unable to reach a deal for the immediate rematch, he would look to return on a date in December for a voluntary defense.
"We expect the negotiations to go better [that the first time], because Canelo has already fought 12 rounds with Gennady. The box office will be the third most successful in boxing history (in Las Vegas), the best event after a fight involving Floyd Mayweather, and in pay-per-event they did well, the two surely got their bigger purses and also the fans want to see more of this combination," said Loeffler to ESPN Deportes.
"We will start the discussions tomorrow (Friday). Obviously there are options but what Golovkin wants is to face Canelo directly, it was his first big purse and it is his priority, the rematch. His legacy will be at stake, with this fight reaching 19 successful defenses, a lot of people believe he won the fight and this will mark his career. We credit Canelo for taking the fight, but we think he beat him well, so we will pursue the rematch and if he beats Canelo - then he will tie the 20 middleweight defense record of Bernard Hopkins and that would be something historical."
"We think we won, HBO had it right, eight rounds to four, the team is happy for the performance, Abel is happy, he thinks we won. Unfortunately the judges did not see it that way. Gennady wants the rematch as soon as possible, we do not want to wait too long. Canelo wants to fight in May, we hope to reach an agreement and GGG is willing to wait."