Last week, Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez striked a last-minute deal that ended up making their rematch in September official. Oscar De La Hoya constantly said earlier that day that GGG was the only one who refused a deal.
Per ESPN’s Dan Rafael, Golovkin said that accepting the rematch was about principles and not about the money. In last week’s negotiations, GGG wanted 45% of the purse of the fight.
“It was the principle of the matter, 45 percent for me, not 35 or 42.5, just 45,” said Golovkin. “Good deal, very happy.”
Should GGG have rejected the rematch, he would’ve missed out on $40 million.
“My original demand was 50-50, but after some thought I understood that 55-45 was good deserving number for both of us and if it didn’t happen we were ready to move on,” said Golovkin. Golden Boy and Alvarez knew they would have a good deal either way. I was not going to go lower in percentage to make a deal.”
Many boxing fans believe that Canelo is a bigger attraction than GGG and therefore, figured that Canelo should get the bigger payday in the rematch. There has also been bad blood between the two stars as they are holding separate press conferences as the fight nears because Canelo and GGG both admitted that they don’t like each other.
Golovkin was also regarded as the winner in the first fight against Canelo last August. Boxing judge Adalaide Byrd scored the fight as a draw and that was the result of the fight.