Even the sanctioning bodies are getting out of the way of a possible juggernaut fight between middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and unified titleholder Gennady Golovkin, who has two belts but is also Alvarez's mandatory challenger by virtue of the interim title he holds.
WBA president Gilberto Mendoza Jr. said on Wednesday that his organization will not stand in the way of an Alvarez-Golovkin fight, easily the biggest the sport has to offer besides a Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao rematch.
"The WBA will not interfere in the Golovkin-Canelo negotiations because that is the fight the fans want," Mendoza said. "However, should they not reach an agreement, [the] WBA mandatory fight for Golovkin will be against [Daniel] Jacobs."
Golovkin holds the WBA's so-called "super" title while Jacobs (31-1, 28 KOs) is the "regular" titleholder and, therefore, a Golovkin mandatory challenger. But Mendoza will back off making that order until he sees what happens with the Alvarez-Golovkin bout, which, if it is made, would take place on Sept. 17 at a venue to be determined.
Alvarez scored a sensational sixth-round knockout of Amir Khan on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to make an emphatic first title defense with Golovkin watching at ringside -- and being invited into the ring after the fight.
During the post-fight news conference, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez's promoter, vowed to be on the phone Sunday with Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions to get the ball rolling on talks.
Indeed, De La Hoya did call Loeffler on Sunday and they spoke briefly, both sides told ESPN.com. They also spoke again on Tuesday, Loeffler said.
"We are in discussions, but we have both agreed that we will not negotiate this fight in the media," Loeffler told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "From our side, we just want to get it finalized as quickly as possible."
The WBC, which is mandating the fight, kept its word and sent letters to both sides on Monday ordering them to begin negotiations per a previous agreement. The WBC agreed to sanction Alvarez-Khan as well as Golovkin's second-round knockout of Dominic Wade on April 23 as long as they agreed to fight each other next if they won. Golovkin wanted the fight immediately but went along with the plan for each to have an interim bout.
The camps were given 15 days to reach an agreement for the fall fight. If they don't, the WBC will schedule a purse bid for May 24. If Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) declines to go through with the bout, which many suspect will be the case, he would be stripped of his WBC belt and it would go to Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs), whose interim tag would be removed.
During the lead-up to the Alvarez-Khan fight, De La Hoya and Alvarez declined to commit to fighting Golovkin next if he beat Khan, but they sounded as though they were embracing the fight afterward.
Alvarez said he was willing to make Golovkin an offer and added, "I'd be happy to not only fight him but also to beat him."
Alvarez also for the first time said he would not place weight restrictions on the bout. Although he is the 160-pound champion, he prefers for his fights to be contracted at a maximum weight of 155, one more than the junior middleweight division. Golovkin wants to fight at the full 160 weight limit.
But after the fight, when asked about the weight limit, Alvarez for the first time said: "There's not going to be any issues. No weight issues. We'll go with an offer and see if the fight can get made. I have a team, obviously, but for me there's no issue. I'll fight him at 160. Now we'll sit down as a team and discuss it."
Article courtesy of Dan Rafael (ESPN)