Canelo Alvarez Vacates Title, Plans To Continue Negotiations With GGG
Saul “Canelo” Alavarez picked up the biggest victory of his career last November when he scored a decision win over veteran Miguel Cotto to become the WBC middleweight champion.
With Alvarez’s victory, fans had hoped that we would be treated to the biggest fight boxing has to offer: a showdown between Alvarez and then interim WBC, WBA, IBO, and IBF middleweight title holder Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
Golovkin, a feared knockout artist, was the mandatory challenger to “Canelo’s” throne, but the two sides ultimately agreed to take interim bouts in the meantime.
“GGG” would go on to starch a relative unknown mandatory challenger in Dominic Wade in just two rounds last month, and Alvarez recently knocked out former 147-pound title holder Amir “King” Khan on May 7th in Las Vegas.
With both men coming out victorious, the WBC set a timetable for the two to come to a deal regarding a fight, and if an agreement wasn’t come to by the set deadline, “Canelo” would be stripped of his title.
That deadline has yet to occur, but Alvarez announced today (May 18, 2016) that he would be vacating his title, claiming that he wouldn’t be forced into the ring under any terms aside from the ones he sets for himself.
In a statement released earlier today, “Canelo” explained the situation while also noting that he plans to continue negotiations with Golovkin in hopes of making the fight happen:
“After much consideration, today, I instructed my team at Golden Boy Promotions to continue negotiating a fight with Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin and to finalize a deal as quickly as possible,” Alvarez said in press release (Via Bad Left Hook).
“I also informed the WBC that I will vacate its title. For the entirety of my career, I have taken the fights that no one wanted because I fear no man. Never has that been more true than today. I will fight ‘GGG,’ and I will beat ‘GGG’ but I will not be forced into the ring by artificial deadlines. I am hopeful that by putting aside this ticking clock, the two teams can now negotiate this fight, and ‘GGG’ and I can get in the ring as soon as possible and give the fans the fight they want to see.”
Alvarez’s promoter and head of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya, reiterated the idea that “Canelo” is without question interested in doing battle with “GGG”:
“There is no denying that Canelo is the biggest star in the sport of boxing. He is eager to get in the ring with ‘GGG’ to show the world that he is also the best pound for pound fighter in the sport, but we won’t negotiate under a forced deadline,” said De La Hoya. “Now that the WBC title is off the table, I am hopeful that ‘GGG’ and his promoter K2 Promotions will come to the table in good faith and get this deal done.”
In the aftermath of Alvarez vacating his title, the WBC has officially promoted Golovkin to be their undisputed middleweight champion of the world.
Do you see this fight ever taking place?
