Another day. Another failed negotiation involving Canelo Alvarez. He didn’t want to fight Gennady Golovkin right now. He couldn’t make a deal with Sergey Kovalev. Now, he will relinquish his IBF title because he couldn’t strike a deal with Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
It’s odd to see the, supposedly most popular fighter in the world, not fight on Mexican Independence weekend especially Alvarez. It was Alvarez and Golden Boy who wanted to jump on Cinco De Mayo and Mexican Independence weekend when Floyd Mayweather retired.
Apparently the hope was to fight Demetrius Andrade and unify the WBO, WBA, and IBF belts. Now, that fight wouldn’t include the IBF title, even though, it would be hard to believe that Alvarez cares.
But the choice of Andrade is a strange one. If there is a style fighter that Alvarez hates, it’s one that uses every inch of the ring. We saw it in his fight with Mayweather and the one with Erislandy Lara. One could argue that Alvarez has gotten better at cutting off the ring and showcases his own boxing skills. Also, unlike Mayweather and Lara, Andrade tends to be unconventional bordering on sloppy at times. That would allow Alvarez to capitalize with one of his power punches.
Either way, a fight with Andrade should be easy to make since both are with DAZN.
With boxing as strong as it is, there is no need to boxing fans to wait on Alvarez. Sure, some will argue he’s the biggest name in boxing but the gap isn’t as large as it was during Mayweather’s reign. Boxing fans can be sufficiently entertained with Alvarez’ name being mentioned.
One can imagine that DAZN has to be chomping at the bit considering their investment in Alvarez. The five-year, 11-fight contract is valued, at minimum, $365 million. It remains to be seen if DAZN will get its money’s worth with the limited options Alvarez has for signature fights.
Be that as it may, it’s time for Alvarez and his camp to make a deal with someone sometime soon before fans forget to ask where he is?
