Whether you believe the reports saying that Gennady Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs failed to crack 150,000 buys or you believe Golovkin’s people saying that it did 170,000 buys, the truth is that neither number could be considered a success without making a huge reach or claiming ignorance.
Golovkin’s second pay-per-view not only failed to prop him up to superstar status (much to the chagrin of HBO Boxing), but further cemented the status that “Triple G” is a “Solid B” should push comes to shove and he’s sitting down with Canelo Alvarez’s team for a fight. As Canelo presumably will pad his negotiation advantages with what will be a very successful fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. this May, Golovkin will no doubt have to get hosed in negotiations unless Canelo takes a surprising loss to chubby Chavez.
With that being said, Team Golovkin knows what time it is and are trying to go ahead with a long discussed fight with seldom-active WBO Middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in hopes to become the undisputed Middleweight champion this June. Should the fight be finalized, then it is all but assured that Canelo/Golovkin is off the table for 2017 if not for good.
Golden Boy Promotions VP Eric Gomez made it very clear that if Golovkin goes ahead with a June 10 fight, it will take the Canelo fight off the table as Alvarez intends to return for the Mexican Independence Day weekend. God help me, but I actually agree with GBP and would not blame them for taking this stance, and I almost never agree with anything coming out of Oscar De la Hoya’s wheelhouse.
Golovkin runs the risk of getting cut, injured or even losing, but he isn’t going to go from one full training camp to another in a span of less than three months. If Golovkin takes the Saunders fight or any fight in June, he is doing it because he is not entertaining the Canelo fight at this point—a shocking reversal of the narrative the potential fight has carried thus far.
Of course, the only reason Golovkin would be doing it is because the writing is on the wall and his team knows that whatever deal he is going to get now is not going to be what they hoped, especially now that there’s no chance to boost their bargaining power after his latest pay-per-view flop. Not only that, Golovkin went from making a career-high payday against Kell Brook for $5 million (as a B-side) to only pocketing half that for Jacobs as a headliner.
De la Hoya made it very clear ahead of the Jacobs fight that he’d offer Golovkin a flat fee of $15 million, which is more than Golovkin could possibly make fighting even another five years, but was derided by the media as a bogus and unfair offer. If that was a bluff, Golovkin’s team would have been wise to call it especially since De la Hoya has said in not-so-specific terms that whatever deal was in place is now off the table.
At this point, neither fighters nor their teams actually seem interested in pursuing this fight for the near future. Golovkin aside, the sudden addition of David Lemiuex to the Canelo/Chavez undercard and Golden Boy’s previous desires to make the fight happen mean it is practically a sure thing provided both men win this May. Should Canelo opt for a third fight this year, chances are he’ll face off against Miguel Cotto in a rematch of their 2015 stinker in hopes of repeating his win and retiring the Puerto Rican diva from the sport.
Golovkin’s trainer and mouthpiece Abel Sanchez has gone on the record saying that should Golovkin win the WBO title, he’ll vacate all of the belts and head up to 168 for a chance to win a title in a second division. If not, Jermall Charlo looms as the next big fight at 160 or perhaps terms could be made for Golovkin to fight his other contemporary rival, Light Heavyweight champion Andre Ward, for what could be his biggest fight outside of Alvarez.
It used to be real easy to blame one side or another for making what really should be an easy and natural fight to make a tremendous pain in the ass, but now they both share the blame should this era’s defining fight fall by the wayside.
I think the plan was indeed to go from one full training camp to another in three months. Between 2013 and 2015, Golovkin had 4 fights with camps of 3 months or less (Macklin, Adama, Rubio, Monroe Jr.) The Jacobs fight was originally targeted for December 10, three months exactly from the Brook fight.
Pure stalling on De La Hoya’s part. Like Mayweather with Pac
PPV will be dropping for all fighters simply because you can watch them for free online.
I did it, and I am sure hundreds of thousands did it too.
GGG is still the best in the MW division regardless of what the charlatan Oscar or others say.
About GGG’s performance against Jacobs.
Jacobs was unethical. He knew in advance he wouldn’t be fighting for the IBF belt, and went up in weight dramatically taking unethical advantage over Golovkin. He should have said before hand that he will not fight for the IBF belt so GGG has a chance to go up in weight too. Jacobs was at least 185 on the ring while GGG was 170. So much for Jacobs …