By Miguel Rivera
Francisco Valcarcel, president of the World Boxing Organization (WBO), believes Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya picked the perfect moment to finalize the showdown between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) and Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs).
Canelo will challenge Golovkin for the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight titles on September 16th, during Mexican Independence Day weekend.
Fans have been asking for this fight for at least two years and the anticipation is sky high. The event is expected by everyone to be the biggest in boxing for 2017 – and the biggest since Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fought in May 2015.
Canelo is technically still the WBO junior middleweight champion – although the boxer has made it clear that he’s never coming back to 154. His most recent fight, on May 6th, took place at a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
“I think Oscar played it masterfully. He waited for the moment when Golovkin looks like he’s starting to get hit. Canelo is on the way up and was crowned the Mexican star with the victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.,” said Valcarcel to Jose Sanchez.
“It’s the ideal moment for boxing and the ideal economic moment for the fight. I think De La Hoya learned a lot from [his former promoter Bob] Arum and Arum is the master in that, combining the economic aspect and boxing.”
Veteran trainer and cutman Miguel Diaz, however, partially differed from Valcárcel’s opinion. He picks Golovkin to win the contest, but not with a knockout. Diaz expects a twelve round decision win.
“Between Canelo and Golovkin, I favor Golovkin even though he did not look very well in finishing his last fight with Daniel Jacobs,” Diaz said. “Gennady is a complete fighter and very strong. But I do not see a knockout. I see him winning by decision. ”
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