A much-anticipated rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has reportedly been agreed up for September 15, 2018 after a tense back-and-forth negotiating period between both sides.
While share of the revenue unsurprisingly proved to be the biggest hurdle, everything fell into place according to Oscar de la Hoya -- head cheese at Golden Boy Promotions who handles all things Canelo — as he took to social media with the news.
The two initially met back in September of 2017, fighting to a highly-controversial draw after the ringside judges’ turned in some rather questionable scoring (scorecards here), specifically on the part of Adalaide Byrd.
The they were all set to run it back on May 5th of this year before Alvarez failed a pre-fight drug test, putting a damper on the plans to settle the great debate once and for all. Alvarez maintained his innocence throughout the ordeal, blaming the positive test on tainted meat.
Golovkin’s last fight came against Vanes Martirosyan, whom he beat on 5 May in a bout arranged after Álvarez’s withdrawal.
Golovkin and Álvarez’s first fight sold 1.3m pay-per-views in the United States and generated a live gate of more than $27m, the third-highest in boxing history. Golovkin is the unbeaten WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight champion. Álavrez holds The Ring middleweight title.
Álvarez has maintained he did not take banned substances deliberately. “I am truly shocked about what has happened and for those who have doubts and suspicions about my integrity I have always been and always will be clean fighter,” he said. “I want to apologize to HBO, Tecate and Hennessy and all my other sponsors, the media and to everyone who is involved in the promotion of this event and especially to the fans. I respect this sport. I will always be a clean fighter.”
Golovkin, for his part, called his opponent a cheat earlier this year. “Again with Mexican meat? Come on,” Golovkin said.
