Thursday, March 28, 2024  |

News

Will others follow Canelo Alvarez to HBO?

Fighters Network
24
Sep
Photo by Image Group LA

Photo by Image Group LA

 

When Floyd Mayweather Jr. left HBO for Showtime in February 2013, his game-changing decision caused several other fighters to follow suit, the majority of them being Golden Boy Promotions boxers.

But now that IBF/WBA light heavyweight titleholder Bernard Hopkins will fight WBO counterpart Sergey Kovalev on HBO on Nov. 8 and junior middleweight Canelo Alvarez has left Showtime for its rival network, Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya hinted that others may follow.

“I’m the promoter who listens to the fighters. Look, Hopkins wanted to be on HBO, so we got him back on HBO. Canelo wants to be on HBO; we got him on HBO. This relationship with HBO is with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez,” said De La Hoya, who promotes both Hopkins and Alvarez.



“It all depends on the fighter but I’ll tell you one thing and that’s wherever the superstar is, the fighters want to follow. So obviously it’s going to be interesting what my fighters under Golden Boy ask of me in the years to come.”

 

MICHAEL KONCZ: MANNY PACQUIAO WON’T GO HIGHER THAN 147 TO FIGHT ALVAREZ

Thanks to his move to HBO, among the potential fights mentioned for Alvarez have been those with WBO welterweight titleholder Manny Pacquiao and RING middleweight champion Miguel Cotto.

“Pacquiao,” said Golden Boy Vice President and matchmaker Eric Gomez, during a Tuesday press conference in Los Angeles. “[Alvarez] wants Pacquiao. We want Pacquiao.”

In November 2010, Pacquiao unanimously decisioned Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight belt. Although Pacquiao-Margarito was contested at a catchweight of 150 pounds, Pacquiao faced a 17-pound weight disadvantage (165 pounds to 148 in favor of Margarito) by the time the two fighters entered the ring.

So Pacquiao’s advisor, Michael Koncz said the Filipino won’t fight Alvarez unless the 24-year-old Mexican drops to 147 pounds.

“It doesn’t have any significance to me because I reached out to Canelo’s people last year thinking about a fight with Manny. That would be the next biggest fight besides Floyd. It could even be bigger than Manny and Floyd but Canelo would not come down to 147. Canelo and his people told me that he can’t come to 147 because they thought that it was too much of a health risk,” said Koncz.

“The fact is that I would never have Manny fight higher than 147 again because we learned our lesson from the Margarito fight that on fight night, there is just too much of an advantage for the other guy with the weight difference. So Manny is not going to go to higher than 147 because it’s just not a smart move. So unless Canelo can come to 147, then there is no relevance to us because we can never do a fight.”

 

ALVAREZ HAS ‘NO PROBLEM’ FIGHTING GENNADY GOLOVKIN

On Oct. 18, WBA middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs) will pursue his 12th defense and his 18th straight knockout victory against Marco Antonio Rubio (59-6-1, 51 KOs). Rubio has won six straight fights, five of them by knockout, since dropping a unanimous decision to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in February 2012.

Alvarez once sparred Golovkin and shared his thoughts on the experience during Tuesday’s press conference.

“You know what? It was very good sparring. He’s a strong fighter, very, very strong. We helped each other out, pretty much,” said Alvarez. “What else can I say about him? He’s not only a good fighter but he’s nice person as well. He’s a very nice person but obviously, this is a business and this is a sport, so if I have to fight him, no problem.”

 

WBC PRESIDENT MAURICIO SULAIMAN WANTS MAYWEATHER-PACQUIAO

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman wants to see Mayweather opposite Pacquiao should the 35-year-old get beyond a Nov. 22 defense of his WBO welterweight belt against rising WBO 140-pound beltholder Chris Algieri. THE RING’s champion at 147 and 154-pounds, Mayweather also holds the WBA and WBC welterweight and junior middleweight belts.

“There’s just a worldwide public demand and we offer all of the good faith and good wishes for it to happen,” said Sulaiman. “We cannot mandate another organization’s boxer to fight for a title but we will put all of that has to be toward making it happen.

“We placed Manny Pacquiao as the No. 1 contender after he came back from the loss and he could have been the mandatory contender to fight Mayweather,” said Sulaiman, “but in that situation, Manny Pacquiao chose to go and fight for another organization. So it’s important for the public to know that he had the option to fight Mayweather at that time but that he opted not to.”

 

BALTIMORE’S GERVONTA DAVIS TO APPEAR ON SAM SOLIMAN-JERMAIN TAYLOR CARD

Baltimore featherweight Gervonta Davis (8-0, 8 KOs), who is advised by Al Haymon, will make his television debut against an opponent to be determined in support of the main event between IBF middleweight titleholder Sam Soliman and former undisputed champ Jermain Taylor on Oct. 8 on ESPN2 at the Beau Rivage waterfront resort in Biloxi, Miss., according to team member Lorin Chvotkin.

 

PACQUIAO AND ALGIERI TO BE RANDOMLY TESTED BY VADA

Pacquiao and Algieri will be randomly tested by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association in advance of their fight, according to Koncz and Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum.

SIGN UP TO GET RING NEWS ALERTS