After a deadline passed, it seemed like the highly-anticipated rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin was not happening, but now the rematch is back on.
Oscar De La Hoya tweeted that both sides have agreed to a deal two hours after Golden Boy President Eric Gomez gave Golovkin and his team a deadline to accept the company’s final offer to have Golovkin face Alvarez on September 15. The final offer was a 57.5-42.5 purse split in favor of Alvarez, higher than the 65-35 split originally offered to Golovkin, with the deadline for Golovkin to accept the fight being June 13 at noon PT (3 p.m. ET).
When the deadline came and went, no deal was made at that point. Oscar De La Hoya spoke to ESPN and initially confirmed that there will be no rematch for September 15.
"No fight. There is no fight," De La Hoya said. "We want the fight, Tom Loeffler wants the fight. Clearly the only person here who doesn’t want the fight is GGG. The fans want the fight. We bent over backwards. We've come up and there’s no budge from him so there’s no fight. 100 percent there is no fight."
At that point, the fight could be saved, however, as ESPN also reported Golden Boy Promotions were attempting a “Hail Mary” attempt to have the fight. The fight would headline an HBO pay-per-view as it was intended when the two of them were originally scheduled to fight back in May. The fight was called off in April after Alvarez tested positive twice for clenbuterol back in February.
Golovkin then fought Vanes Martirosyan on May 5 after the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Alvarez for six months retroactive to the date of the first failed test for clenbuterol, February 17, meaning Alvarez will remain suspended until August 17.
After Golovkin's fight against Martirosyan, talks of a rematch between Alvarez and Golovkin resumed but Golovkin demanded an even 50-50 split. After Golden Boy Promotions declined Golovkin's request and the unified WBA and WBC champion refused to budge on his demand, De La Hoya then stated that negotiations to make a fight between Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs were underway. Soon after, it was reported that Golovkin would be willing to accept a 55-45 offer for Alvarez.
The fight is expected to headline an HBO pay-per-view, likely to happen at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, site of the first fight between the two last September which ended in a split draw. The planned May 5 rematch would also have taken place at T-Mobile Arena.
