By Jake Donovan
It doesn’t seem to take much to please some in the boxing industry.
Miguel Cotto and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez are less than a month away from their head-on collision, which will take place November 21 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. The World middleweight championship is at stake, with Cotto making the first defense of his crown.
Looming overhead, however, is the winner mandated to face the man widely regarded as the best middleweight on the planet – unbeaten Gennady Golovkin. The reigning middleweight titlist is less than two weeks removed from a one-sided 8th round stoppage of David Lemieux in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden in his first-ever unification bout and also his first Pay-Per-View headliner.
Both Cotto and Alvarez have already begun to speak of what terms they would likely demand in order for such a fight to take place. Alvarez’ name has already been floated as – with a win – a luring prize for the victor in the November 7 clash between welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios.
Some have taken such chatter with the optimistic viewpoint that they are at least entertaining the idea of fighting Golovkin next year, posturing for now but eventually willing to step into the ring with the fierce knockout artist from Kazakhstan.
Others are able to see through the nonsense, since all of the posturing in the world doesn’t change one true fact: as mandatory challenger, there are no such negotiations for catchweights and anything else outside the realm of a traditional middleweight title fight.
It’s a point that Golovkin and his team will make sure to remind the winner once it’s time to discuss such a matchup.
“We worked hard to get in this position; the fight with Marco Antonio Rubio was specifically selected since he was the interim WBC champ,” notes Tom Loeffler, managing director of K2 Promotions and the guiding force behind Golovkin’s rise from former amateur standout-turned-pro to budding boxing superstar. “We knew at the time of taking the fight that it was the only way to force the WBC middleweight champ (Cotto) to fight Gennady.”
The ability to maneuver into such a fight was a stroke of genius, especially considering that Golovkin (34-0, 31KOs) already held two other middleweight titles at the time (WBA Super, IBO). Most sanctioning bodies are quick to reject such fights, but the WBC made an exception for Golovkin since Cotto was out for the remainder of 2014 following his epic stoppage win over Sergio Martinez.
It also allowed Cotto time to negotiate a planned May 2 showdown with Alvarez. Those plans eventually fell through, prompting a pair of stay busy fights for each prior to reentering discussion for their now forthcoming clash.
Cotto was able to convince Martinez and his team to fight at a 159 lb. catchweight for their June ’14 clash at Madison Square Garden, despite the fact that Martinez was the defending champ. The Puerto Rican superstar – who became the island’s first-ever four division champ with the aforementioned win – was able to convince former champ Daniel Geale to starve down to 157 lbs. for their catchweight bout this past June in Brooklyn, New York, which Cotto won by 4th round knockout.
His upcoming superfight with Alvarez (45-1-1, 32KOs) will take place at a maximum catchweight of 155 lbs. – just one pound above the super welterweight limit despite the fact that the middleweight title is at stake. Alvarez was fine with such terms; in fact, it’s his fourth straight fight at that specific weight, scoring wins over Alfredo Angulo, Erislandly Lara and James Kirkland in succession.
The only catch for negotiations with Golovkin will likely come in the form of dollar amount. Weights can’t be modified, nor can the other side demand options on a mandatory challenger. That said, Golovkin and his team have every intention of making the fight happen – or at least not be responsible in the event that it were to fall apart.
“We would definitely look to make the fight however we can,” Loeffler promises, though stopping well short of indicating any concessions he and his team would be willing to make.
One item that will be crossed off the list, though, is the demand of getting Golovkin to agree to the “up to” part of “Up to 160 lbs.” for a sanctioned middleweight fight.
“The difference between Cotto negotiated with Sergio Martinez for a lower weight even though Sergio was champ, was that Cotto was a voluntary challenger; therefore the fight could be made on whatever terms all parties saw fight,” Loeffler points out. “The same is said for his optional title defense versus Geale, where he was able to convince him to come down in weight.
“It's a different situation with Gennady, however; he's the mandatory challenger. That's a unique situation to be in. He brings in a lot of momentum, having just unified the titles.”
The win over Lemieux helped kick off a blitz of notable middleweight fights taking place over the next 10 weeks. Included among the batch are fights between resurgent defending titlist and unbeaten challengers: Daniel Jacobs vs. Peter Quillin in an all-Brooklyn matchup Dec. 5th at Barclays Center; and Andy Lee finally facing Billy Joe Saunders on Dec. 19th in Manchester, marking at least the third time they’ve been scheduled to meet.
By then, the results from November 21 will have long ago come in – and from there no more than 15 additional days for the winner to commit to negotiations for a title defense with Golovkin.
A commitment means that the winner will enter such talks and agree to a fight, barring unforeseen circumstances. Failure to respond in a timely fashion could result in forfeiture of the title, at which point Golovkin would advance from WBC interim to full titlist. The hope on his side is that it doesn’t come to that.
“We have a lot of respect for Cotto and Canelo,” Loeffler insists. “They are fighting for the WBC title. We will be there at the fight, as that’s the next step for us - to unify and eventually collect all of the middleweight titles. We can't force them to get in the ring. They're mandated to fight Gennady. He automatically becomes full champ if the winner decides not to fight him.
“I can't speculate what they want to do. Fighting for that title, you'd think they'd want to defend it. We can't control what they do. The only thing we can control is our side, and we’ve never held up a negotiation for a fight due to any demands, financial or otherwise.”
Regardless of how November 21 and its aftermath plays out, Golovkin’s in a good place. He either gets the fight of his dreams, or adds another title to his collection.
Also waiting in the wings is Tureano Johnson, who recently became mandatory challenger to the title Golovkin just won. Johnson earned that position with a win on the Oct. 17 undercard, outpointing Eamonn O’Kane in a final eliminator.
There are plenty of scenarios that can play out, but the bad news for all other parties hoping to side bar is this: Golovkin isn’t going anywhere, other than ringside for November 21 and then immediately to the negotiating table with whomever is holding the belt he’d next like to add to his collection.
“Right now the focus is getting the winner (of Cotto-Alvarez),” Loeffler reiterates. “We give David Lemieux a lot of credit. Ever since Gennady won his first title in 2010, he’s wanted to unify. David was the first one to finally agree to that.
“Gennady is in a position where he would like to grab all of the titles, and as quickly as possible. We have no intention of being responsible for the fight not happening.”
Something for the rest of the industry to bear in mind the next time either side of the November 21 headliner comes up with future demands of what it will take to agree to a fight with Golovkin.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox