Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin Reportedly Agree to Trilogy Fight Contract

Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin will fight for a third time after Lance Pugmire of The Athletic revealed on Tuesday the two fighters have reached a verbal agreement over a trilogy bout to take place at a future date.

Boxing, like the vast majority of other sports, is currently on hold in response to the outbreak of the coronavirus. However, discussions are still taking place behind the scenes to arrange fights for when mass gatherings are deemed safe again.

Pugmire noted how the rescheduling of Alvarez's intended super middleweight unification fight with Billy Joe Saunders could determine when this trilogy bout takes place: "Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) still intends to first fight Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, sources say, followed by Golovkin. The hope is for the trilogy bout to take place on Sept. 12 at AT&T Stadium outside Dallas, though date and site are not finalized at this time."

Pugmire was also told how an alternative would be to skip over Alvarez taking on Saunders and move straight to the matchup against Golovkin.

A third bout would give IBF middleweight Golovkin the chance to score his first victory over Alvarez. The latter won on points in 2018 after the two had scrapped to a draw in September 2017.

Other remaining issues that need to be worked out include choosing the weight class the headline fight will be classified within. Pugmire's sources informed him Alvarez has so far given his consent for the bout to be staged at the 160-pound limit for the middleweight division.

There is no deadline for a decision on the fight weight, though, meaning Alvarez could opt for a limit of 168 pounds. It's the super middleweight level, where Alvarez is the WBA champion.

The 29-year-old's fight with Saunders is supposed to unify the titles in the division, with the latter owning the WBO strap. They were supposed to meet in Las Vegas on May 2, but Saunders is still preparing for a fight Alvarez wants to happen in June, according to ESPN Mexico (h/t Michael Benson of TalkSport):

A fight with Saunders represents an obvious challenge for Alvarez, something the Mexican fighter doesn't believe he would receive from Golovkin.

Alvarez has previously played down the idea of another meeting with his familiar rival, per Marc Williams of TalkSport: "I mentioned it before, it’s really not a challenge for me. I won 24 rounds, it’s really not a challenge for me. But if it’s good business, then why not?"

Golovkin is 38, but the Kazakhstan native proved his enduring toughness and skill when he beat Serhiy Derevyanchenko by unanimous decision to regain the IBF middleweight belt at Madison Square Garden back in October.

Whether Golovkin is still a worthy opponent for Alvarez or not doesn't hide the fact completing the trilogy makes financial sense for both. It would take place under the umbrella of streaming service DAZN, with whom Alvarez has a 10-fight, $350 million deal after negotiating with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions to free himself up to meet Golovkin again, per Pugmire.