Fans Will Have to Wait for Canelo vs. Golovkin After Alvarez Ditches WBC Belt

Make no mistake, Canelo Alvarez is as brave a fighter as there is.

And his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, made a career of taking on daunting ring challenges.

Nothing they do between now and interment should diminish that built-up street cred.

But no matter how much the two of them might insist otherwise, the semantic actions they took Wednesday evening indicated they're just as adept at putting business ahead of brawn.

Shortly after 6 p.m. ET, the Golden Boy Promotions brain trust issued a press release that makes a fight between Alvarez and middleweight KO machine Gennady Golovkin seem about as likely, for all practical purposes, as a prime-time TV tango that couples Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Oh sure, Alvarez and De La Hoya, respectively, insisted their decision to vacate the WBC championship removes the "artificial" and "forced" 15-day deadline the organization had mandated to get a deal done—and actually makes a "good faith" agreement between the sides more likely.

But what it really did was remove any reason they had to sign a contract at all.

Because, quite frankly, Canelo's got a lot of other options far less likely to render him unconscious.

And when it comes to protecting a commodity, pursuing them is the prudent name of the game.

Given his man's status as the sport's most reliable active pay-per-view product—not to mention his comfort at a weight well below the 160-pound mark Golovkin calls home—it's not in De La Hoya's best competitive interest to match Alvarez with a bully when there are loads of smaller guys to pick on.

And somewhere in his heart of hearts, you've got to wonder if Tom Loeffler knows that, too.

The sudden abdication means the K2 Promotions czar is now the man behind the man who's ascended from the WBC's "interim champion" purgatory.

But while that advance puts Team Golovkin one step closer to its goal of middleweight omnipotence, it's not at all indicative that GGG's long-desired chance to meet a fighter whom casual fans recognize is anything close to ensured.

In fact, when asked if the Alvarez fight is more or less certain, Loeffler first two words were, "Can't say."

"They made it clear they want to continue to negotiate the fight, so we will continue to do whatever we can to make the fight," he told Bleacher Report. "The Canelo-GGG is still the biggest fight that can be made in the sport of boxing, so that is still the priority for us to try to make that fight."

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Still, while the purist in De La Hoya screams "get it done," the career counselor whispers "diversify."

Though his client still holds—for the time being—the Ring magazine and lineal middleweight titles, it's a fair bet at least some of De La Hoya's late-week phone time will be spent gauging the willingness of two recently retired stars who've never weighed in for a fight beyond 151 pounds.

Recent rumblings have indicated both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. could be future foes for Alvarez. Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, told BoxingScene.com's Radio Rahim that Top Rank has offered the Filipino a Canelo fight, and he said Pacquiao's April effort against Timothy Bradley Jr. convinced him it's within reason.

"I saw a lot of the old Manny Pacquiao back," Roach said. "I was really happy to see the old Manny Pacquiao come back. I would like to get him ready for one more fight."

Mayweather, meanwhile, has been on a nudge-and-wink tour almost since the instant he exited the press conference that followed last September's defeat of Andre Berto.

The former five-division champ told Showtime's Jim Gray last month there have been comeback discussions with CBS and Showtime (h/t Boxing Junkie). And while the WBC belt is no longer an option for the fight poster, a rematch with Alvarez would still give him a chance to take down a fighter who remains the "man who beat the man" among the middleweights.

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His first fight with a previously untested Canelo in September 2013 stands as the third-most-purchased pay-per-view show in history, and multiple members of Team Alvarez have indicated an interest in reversing its result—a convincing majority decision for Mayweather—and returning to the bank vault.

"Of course we are interested in that fight because it's a thorn stuck in our side," Eddy Reynoso said, per Miguel Rivera of BoxingScene.com (h/t Miguel Vasquez of the Christian Post). "But now it will be at our weight—154-155 pounds is where Canelo is comfortable."

De La Hoya, too, said if a second bout occurs, it'll occur with Canelo as the A-side.

"If he comes back, I think it should be against Canelo," he said, per ESPN Deportes (h/t Rivera), claiming the purse split "should be 70/30 for Canelo, it's Canelo's time."

As for the latter, at least one set of pound-for-pound rankings—at BoxRec.com—suggests he's right.

If it's indeed De La Hoya's aim to prolong the reign as long as possible, it seems safe to assume he'll at least seek to engage two men nearly old enough to be Alvarez's father rather than one who's not allowed a foe to hear a scheduled final bell since Canelo was 17.

And as for the follow-up call to break the news to Team Golovkin, it's likely to end something like this:

"Nothing personal, Gennady. Just business."

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.