By Keith Idec
Gennady Golovkin still believes he is worth a 50-50 revenue split for his highly anticipated rematch with Canelo Alvarez.
According to promoter Tom Loeffler, Golovkin forfeited that final five percent to Alvarez in negotiations Wednesday to stroke his rival’s ego. Loeffler discussed how the deal, which he declared “dead” earlier Wednesday, was finalized later that day during a press conference Monday in Los Angeles.
“As I mentioned, there wasn’t much of a deal-changer,” Loeffler said. “It was Gennady was very clear with what he would be satisfied with. He had made the concession to come off of the 50-50 split, which he thought was fair, actually, we all thought was fair. He’s the champion, he’s the one most people thought won the first fight, he’s the one that didn’t test positive. So he felt it’s even, a 50-50 split. Then he said, ‘OK, for Canelo’s ego and for negotiations,’ he would give him the extra five percent.”
Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez’s promoter, said Tuesday that a 57.5-42.5 split was his final offer and gave Golovkin a deadline of noon PT Wednesday to accept it. A determined Golovkin, who accepted a 70-30 split for their first fight last September 16 and a 65-35 split when their rematch initially was scheduled for May 5, was rewarded for holding out for that final 2.5 percent.
Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) contended Monday that he knew all along Alvarez’s handlers realized he was worth 45 percent, particularly since the suspended Alvarez was entirely at fault for the cancelation of their May 5 fight. The middleweight champion from Kazakhstan reportedly could earn as much as $30 million for their high-profile, pay-per-view rematch September 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
A fight against WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders would’ve earned Golovkin much less. Loeffler and Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, maintained Monday, though, that Golovkin was more than willing to fight Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs) instead of Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs).
“The deal was dead,” Loeffler said. “We had a deal in place. I have to give Billy Joe Saunders and [promoter] Frank Warren credit. They had agreed to terms to fight August 25 over here in Los Angeles. Everything was set with The Forum, with HBO, with all the sanctioning bodies that Triple-G could’ve fought another undefeated champion, couldn’t added another title, the one title that was eluding him for so long, that we tried to make the fight with.
“And [Golden Boy president] Eric [Gomez] said he was gonna go in the direction, because we couldn’t come to the agreement, they were gonna go in the direction of Danny Jacobs. About an hour later, he called back, had one last proposal, which satisfied what Gennady wanted, and that’s why we’re here.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
