Gennady Golovkin will be ringside Saturday night when Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defends his WBC middleweight championship against Amir Khan at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It remains uncertain whether Golovkin will get to face the winner in a unification bout this September.
That has been the 800-pound elephant in the room leading up to the HBO pay-per-view event. Alvarez, the immensely popular fighter from Guadalajara, Mexico, is favored to defeat Khan, the former Olympic silver medalist from England. The WBC has mandated the victor face Golovkin, the WBO, IBO, and IBF champion. An Alvarez-Golovkin matchup would be a massive promotion, but there’s no certainty Alvarez will agree to the bout.
“It’s in my future plans,” said Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs). “It’s definitely in my future plans. I want to have that fight. I want to give that to the fans. I’m just not sure when. Right now I’m focused 100 percent on Amir Khan, and we’ll see right after that.”
Eyebrows were raised when the Alvarez camp suggested Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) needed to prove his worth by defeating a few more credible opponents. Critics fear Alvarez and his promoter Golden Boy Promotions will do all they can to avoid a fight with Golovkin to preserve Alvarez’s lofty standing and pay-per-view appeal.
“Obviously it’s a fight that the question is not if, but when,” Golden Boy founder Oscar De La Hoya said. “That’s a fight that, as a promoter, it’s a fight that I want to see, that the world wants to see. But as a promoter, I want it to be the biggest event in the history of this sport to attract fans and to bring back the fans that we lost when people witnessed Manny Pacquiao versus [Floyd] Mayweather. So my question every single day is: How can I accomplish that? But this fight has to happen at the perfect moment, at the perfect time, and I think we’re getting close.”
Golovkin, a solid 160-pounder, would be the bigger fighter against Alvarez, who is more of a 154-pound junior middleweight. Alvarez probably would enter the ring just north of the 155-pound catch-weight being used for Saturday’s fight. Golovkin could be as big as 165 or more. But Alvarez will be the bigger fighter Saturday night when he faces Khan, who has done his best work at 140 and 147 pounds.
Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) has won five straight bouts since being stopped in the fourth round by unbeaten welterweight champion Danny Garcia on July 14, 2012, at Barclays Center. Most recently, Khan earned a unanimous decision over Chris Algieri in May 2015. Speed is Khan’s best asset to overcome a suspect chin. Alvarez, 25, is a boxer-puncher.
“This is a huge fight as Canelo is a star in Mexico and America,” Khan said. “I know I’m here as the underdog, but I’m ready to win and take this WBC belt back to my home in England. I wouldn’t have taken this fight if I didn’t think I could [win] it.”
Mayweather has been the attraction on Cinco De Mayo weekend in Las Vegas in recent years and De La Hoya before that. Alvarez eagerly assumes the torch and the spotlight that comes with it. Unlike Golovkin, he has already proven his popularity, attracting 40,000 fans to the Alamo Dome for his win over Austin Trout and 31,000 at Minute Maid Park in Houston where he knocked out James Kirkland. In November, he earned a unanimous decision over Miguel Cotto to win the WBC title in front of sold-out Mandalay Bay Events Center and 900,000 pay-per-view customers.
“I think that Saul could be considered not only the top draw but the most popular around the world,” De La Hoya said. “He’s already proved it. I think that he is, and he’s going to continue to be, the top draw in boxing.”
Mayweather is starting to hint about a possible return in September, but for now the sport is looking for a pound-for-pound king, an unofficial title that figures to be decided if Saturday’s winner agrees to fight Golovkin.