Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin on for fall of 2017

Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin have verbally agreed to a fight in fall of 2017.

Multiple reports have now confirmed that Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin, the fight that everybody wants to see, has been agreed upon. Lance Pugmire was the first to confirm the news, while ESPN’s Dan Rafael reported that the fight would be contested at the regular 160-pound limit, and not a 155-pound catchweight that Canelo has become so accustomed to.

Alvarez and Golovkin are the two biggest names in the sport of boxing right now, at least until Mayweather and Pacquiao come out of retirement. Golovkin’s second round destruction of Dominic Wade did tremendous numbers on HBO while Canelo’s knockout of Amir Khan sold 600,000 pay-per-views and is among the favorites for knockout of the year.

After that fight, Canelo sent shock waves around the boxing world when he called out GGG, who was in attendance, by saying “We don’t f–k around. I don’t fear anyone – we don’t come to play in this sport.”

But when Canelo vacated his belt to allow for a longer negotiation period – the WBC dictated for a deal to be agreed upon in 15 days – many questioned whether the fight would really happen. Golovkin has wanted to unify the middleweight belts for a long time, and although he was happy he received the WBC belt, he probably wanted to capture it in the ring.

Weight was one of the principle reasons this fight was held up for so long, as Golovkin’s trainer once called Canelo a “diva” for not agreeing to fight at the middleweight limit. But now that the biggest hurdle is cleared, Pugmire has stated that Canelo’s camp has stated that he will want “a fight or two” to get accustomed to the weight.

For now, the plan is for Canelo’s next fight to take place in September of this year against an opponent to be determined (which is code for Manny Pacquiao). Golovkin could fight again around the same time against Chris Eubank Jr., and placing the two on the same card would only increase interest in the fight and start promotion for it.

While it’s still a long way away from happening, boxing fans can start getting excited knowing that the fight they’ve wanted has been agreed to. Even if one of the two loses in the interim, the pay-per-view and live gate are expected to be huge. It won’t reach Mayweather-Pacquiao territory, but it will be the biggest payday either of them has ever received, and the winner would be launched into superstardom.

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