“We’ve always had a good relationship with Golden Boy, we did a great promotion with the (David) Lemieux fight. The pressure was on as far as Gennady wanting to have the WBC title. ‘Canelo’ vacated the title so it takes the pressure off of there and so what Eric (Gomez, Sr. V.P. of Golden Boy) discussed, it looks like we’re going to build towards that fight for next year, 2017,” Tom Loeffler, the managing director of K2 Promotions told Boxing Scene.
Alvarez’s promoter Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) is reported to be in talks win Liam Smith for his September 17 scheduled fight while Golovkin’s promoter K2 Promotions has been reported to have considered Chris Eubank or Billy Joe Saunders for Golovkin’s next fight.
Top Rank’s Bob Arum, who earlier broached the idea of getting Alvarez and Manny Pacquiao in the ring said GBP has already figured out Liam Smith as Canelo’s next opponent.
“Nobody from Canelo’s team, Oscar, or anyone connected with Oscar has approached us at all about a Canelo fight. As a matter of fact, I will tell you – from what I know – they already have an opponent and that is the English kid, the 154 pound champion (Liam Smith),” Arum told BoxingScene.com before smiling and taking a subtle shot at the selection. “That is a big name in the United States,” he added.
In the case of Golovkin, it appears that Chris Eubank (23-1-0, 17 KOs) is now in contention after Billy Joe Saunders who was prominently mentioned as Golovkin’s opponent could not reach a mutually beneficial arrangement with Golovkin’s camp on purse sharing. Eubank, who lost to Saunders in 2014 is set to face Tom Doran on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London.
Saunder’s promoter Frank Warren isn’t opposing the fight but he wants a reasonable fee for his fighter knowing that he is facing a formidable opponent.
“Billy Joe Saunders against Golovkin, that’s a tough fight for Billy Joe Saunders. He hasn’t defended his title yet. He says he wants it, and I know he wants it. That’s all about money. If the money is not right, then I can’t let it happen. It’s got to be right, because he’s seriously, seriously going into the lion’s den,” Warren told IFL TV.
