Boxing fans have been anticipating the Alvarez–Golovkin fight even before Alvarez fought Miguel Cotto in November 2015 and Amir Khan in May this year. For his part, Golovkin was busy knocking out three opponents in 2015 including Martin Murray, Willie Monroe and David Limieux. Last April, Golovkin knocked out Dominic Wade in two rounds.
After both fighters agreed to do interim fights before finalizing the deal, restive fans blamed Alvarez for his failure to sign the fight contract. They claimed that Alvarez was scared of facing Golovkin, who knocked out all his opponents since they started talking about the fight.
But veteran trainer Freddie Roach came to the rescue of Alvarez saying the Mexican star isn’t scared of Golovkin as fans have claimed.
“They’re all blaming Canelo, but look, fighters aren’t scared,” said Roach, who believes Golovkin will eventually become a PPV attraction. “It’s a business decision by his promoter. I don’t know why the blame went to the kid.”
“Why fight the toughest guy for no money? I think Triple-G is the best pound-for-pound guy out there right now. I rate him very highly. But he’s not that kind of a draw yet. Eventually, he will be, but that fight is going to just get bigger,” he added.
Alvarez’ promoter Oscar de la Hoya did not disclose the real reason for the failed match but boxing insiders say Golovkin isn’t ripe for a major pay-per-view fight.
While there is a big clamor for the fight to happen in the fall, the promoters may have realized that the match needs more marinating as De la Hoya had said earlier.
As Roach said, Golovkin isn’t a PPV draw at this time but he will be shortly. It is difficult for the promoters to let the fans down but boxing is still business and ultimately business decisions will have to prevail for the good of stakeholders.
Now, Alvarez continues to be at the receiving end of criticism from restive fans who blamed him for picking easy fights like Amir Khan and Liam Smith. But he assures fans the Golovkin fight will eventually happen.
“There’s always going to be critics out there that criticize everything,” Canelo told RingTV.com. “So we’re just focusing on fighting for Sept. 17. We’re focused on my career and taking the next step and moving forward and eventually that fight’s going to happen (with Golovkin). It’s going to happen. It will happen,” he added.
Meanwhile Golovkin is now a huge favorite to beat Kell Brook when they clash on Sept. 10 at The O2 Arena in London, England.
