Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin rematch finalized for September 15th

It required overtime, but we have a fight.

At roughly 12 PM PT on Wednesday, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya declared “No fight. There is no fight” between Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) and Gennady Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs). Just over two hours later, De La Hoya tweeted this.

So what happened? Well you may recall that the May 5th rematch being cancelled due to Canelo’s positive test for clenbuterol, leading to Nevada to suspend Alvarez for all of six months. After quickly dispatching Vanes Martirosyan on regular HBO, Golovkin wanted terms of the rematch adjusted to have a 50-50 event revenue split, as opposed to the previously agreed upon 65-35 in Canelo’s favor. This was a non-starter for Golden Boy Promotions, who’d managed a 70-30 split for Canelo in their first fight last September, and they were just about ready to shut the door and move onto a potential showdown with Daniel Jacobs (34-2, 29 KOs).

It didn’t take long for Golovkin and his team to soften their 50-50 demands, and was willing to accept a 55-45 Canelo split. That still was of no interest to Golden Boy Promotions, who‘d upped the offer to 60-40. Then De La Hoya gave a seemingly firm deadline for Golovkin to accept what looked to be a final offer of 57.5-42.5. Noon pacific time on Wednesday passed, Golovkin did not accept, and this appeared to be the death blow. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler, as well as Golden Boy president Eric Gomez did even more last-minute negotiating, and the two sides have struck a deal. As to what the final revenue percentage split will be, they’ve agreed not to disclose that publicly.

Now that the twists and turns and stupid boxing politics have led to the desired outcome, we can look forward to the two men continuing their rivalry on September 15th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. HBO will broadcast the card on pay-per-view. In their first matchup, Golovkin and Canelo fought to a controversial split draw, with veteran UFC and boxing judge Adelaide Byrd turning in a horrendous 118-110 Alvarez scorecard that drew worldwide attention and marred what was an entertaining battle. Overall business for the event was spectacular, with 1.4 million pay-per-view buys, plus a $27 million live gate (the third-biggest in boxing history). Canelo reportedly earned about $50 million to Golovkin’s $20+ million.

It should be noted that only Golovkin’s WBC and WBA belts are at stake, as he was stripped of his IBF title due to not fighting unbeaten Ukrainian Sergey Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs), who was his mandatory challenger. The IBF has since ordered Derevyanchenko to fight Daniel Jacobs next.