Photo by Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Amir “King” Khan brought out 16,540 fans to the new T-Mobile Arena this past Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
While the fight was close in the early rounds, it took just one punch in the sixth round to send Khan to the canvas. Khan was unable to get up and Canelo improved his record to 47-1-1, with 33 of those wins coming by way of knockout.
In the early rounds, Khan was using his jab to keep Canelo at bay–along with using his speed and ring movement making it extremely difficult for Canelo to cut off the ring. Canelo even admitted that Khan’s mobility was beginning to frustrate him in the first couple rounds of the bout.
During the post-fight press conference, Oscar De La Hoya was asked if he was worried going into Round 6 because at that point in the fight, it looked as if the rounds were going in favor of Khan. Without hesitation, he replied yes, explaining that he had the fight scored even, but Khan was looking sharp.
The post-fight press conference was held in the ring following Canelo’s brutal knockout. And as you can imagine 99 percent of the questions that were asked were in regards to who Canelo will fight next–with the name Gennady Golovkin being mentioned in nearly every question.
De La Hoya tried to reassure the media and everyone watching that he would be making the phone call Sunday morning to Golovkin’s “people” with hopes to make the fight happen. Obviously, De La Hoya could not guarantee the fight will happen in September–but did state that negotiations would take place.
Photo by Boxing Channel via Twitter
“Golovkin, make sure you answer your phone tomorrow morning,” said De La Hoya. “We will call you. Make sure you answer your phone.”
Both De La Hoya and Canelo alluded that there will be no issue with weight–keeping in mind the WBC’s terms mandate, specifically that the fight be at 160 pounds.
Golovkin, who holds the WBA and IBF belts and Canelo retaining the WBC title last night, are both at the top of the list in the middleweight division rankings. Ultimately, this fight could determine who is the best middleweight in the world.
Will the middleweight unification fight between Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez happen this coming September? Will the two sides be able to come to an agreement? Will there or will there not be a catchweight–possibly meeting in the middle at 157?
Canelo vs. Golovkin is the fight that everyone wants to see and have been anticipating since last November, when Alvarez defeated Miguel Cotto to win the WBC title, lineal and Ring Magazine championship.
Long before the Canelo vs. Khan fight took place, Tom Loeffler (Managing Director of K2 Promotions, which promotes Golovkin) announced that the winner of the fight would have 15 days to decide whether they’ll defend the WBC 160-pound title against Golovkin.
He explained if the winner (Canelo) decided not to face him, then the fighter would be stripped of the title by the World Boxing Council for failing to face Golovkin, the mandatory challenger. So it looks like we will know rather soon whether or not this fight is going to happen.
Even though GGG vs. Canelo is the most desired fight right now, Canelo has more options. There have been talks about the possibility of a fight against WBO middleweight titleholder Billy Joe Saunders, rumors of a rematch with Miguel Cotto and even the possibility of Canelo taking on contenders such as David Lemieux or Chris Eubank Jr.
During the post-fight press conference, Canelo also expressed his desire to fight in Mexico this year.
Needless to say, this will be an interesting and nerve-racking two weeks for boxing fans. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
