IBO Boxing Honesty and Integrity
By Scoop Malinowski
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has learned well from the master ducker of all time, Floyd Mayweather, when you see an unbeatable obstacle in your path, just duck and dodge it with excuses, regardless of how silly they may be. This week Alvarez, a month before his next fight vs Miguel Cotto, has cleverly laid the foundation to duck the pound for pound King of the sport Gennady Golovkin in a hotly anticipated superfight which fans and media are hoping to see happen next year.
This week Alvarez has said that he will only fight Golovkin in a middleweight unification showdown at a catch-weight of 155. The curious Mayweather-style demand stenches badly of a duck maneuver to block the fight from happening – as Alvarez and GGG are both naturally comfortable
at the middleweight limit of 160. And it makes little sense to contest the middleweight unification showdown at a weight five pounds under the class limit, other than it being a transparent, calculated roadblock to discourage Golovkin, the fans and media from getting overly excited to see the biggest event in the sport from taking place. The duck move by Canelo, surely endorsed and supported by his promoter Golden Boy, makes perfect sense from a business standpoint – Golden Boy is struggling at the moment, after the loss by David Lemieux to Golovkin in New York – and now to nail on another loss by Alvarez, who is the projected long term cash cow of the company – would be devastating for the company’s long term planning.
If Golden Boy has any chance to hang around the boxing business with Al Haymon and Top Rank at the top of the food chain for the next decade, it desperately needs to maintain Alvarez as a growing and winning enterprise. So Mayweathering, or pardon, dodging the electrifying, spectacular and seemingly unbeatable Gennady Golovkin for another two or three years might be the smartest move the struggling promoter can make at this time.
