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Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin II negotiations will begin Friday

Photo / @HBOBoxing
Fighters Network
21
Sep

LOS ANGELES — Gennady Golovkin was disappointed.

Not in his performance, of course, but in the “terrible” decision rendered after his epic battle with Canelo Alvarez.

Luckily, he’ll have a chance — and so, too, will Canelo — to prove who the better man is once and for all.

To that point, negotiations for the rematch, or “tiebreaker,” as Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez termed it, will commence Friday in Los Angeles between he and GGG promoter Tom Loeffler.



There was a rematch clause in place that could be exercised only by the Canelo side in the event he didn’t win the fight. The plan is now to go ahead with that option following the draw, and some major deal points are already in place. But there are still “certain points that are open that we need to negotiate,” Gomez told RingTV.com on Thursday.

“The most important thing is both fighters want to do the fight again,” Gomez said. “That’s always the biggest obstacle. If one of the fighters doesn’t want to do it, it doesn’t get done. But if both fighters want it, that makes it so much easier.”

Canelo expressed his desire for a second counter with Golovkin in the locker room following the brutal affair, Gomez said. GGG, too, is eager to wipe the bad taste out of his mouth. He, and the majority of fans, believe he won the fight. Loeffler agrees, naturally.

“Of course I want the rematch, said Golovkin. “Real Mexican style fighters do not run from best fight, from history fight.”

And Canelo isn’t going to run.

The Mexican star’s manager, Jose “Chepo” Reynoso, reiterated to Gomez this week his fighter’s desire to meet Golovkin again. Just when the RING middleweight championship bout will take place is another matter.

Alvarez typically fights twice a year; on Cinco De Mayo Weekend in May, and then again on Mexican Independence Day Weekend in September.

GGG prefers to stay more active than that, but Loeffler told RingTV.com that if a deal is made — and Gomez admitted the rematch clause allows the boxers to take an interim fight — Golovkin will wait until May if that’s when Canelo will be ready.

“That’s the fight that fans want to see, all the reaction is that it left an unsatisfactory taste in the fans’ mouths,” Loeffler told RingTV.com. “We thought Triple-G should have gotten the decision, but they definitely want to see the fight again. So we’ll do what we can do to the fight again. If it’s up to Gennady, he’d do the fight as soon as possible.

“Gennady would go straight into the rematch and that fight is red hot now, and it wouldn’t get any bigger by the guys taking the interim fight. That was one of the requests they had.”

Indeed, Gomez and Golden Boy Promotions prefer for there to be no interim bouts, even if the fighters must wait eight months before the compete again.

“I would hate for one of them to get injured or to look bad in a fight or to lose,” Gomez said. “That’s a can of worms you don’t want to open.”

Gomez said there’s no set date or location right now, and noted it’s always possible Canelo will say “Let’s go right away!”

But it’s more likely the return bout heads to Cinco De Mayo Weekend.

“We likeM because it’s perfectly positioned to do a big event,” Gomez said. “It’s a great date. It doesn’t interfere with any other sports. There’s the Kentucky Derby normally that day, but other than that, college football isn’t happening, NFL isn’t happening, and baseball just started in April. Basketball is just barely going into the playoffs.”

Canelo and Golovkin both want the fight. The fans want it, the promoters want it. It’s going to happen again. And this time, hopefully, there’s a clear, decisive winner.

Mike Coppinger is the Senior Writer for RingTV.com. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeCoppinger

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