Top Rank’s CEO Bob Arum is going to throw his hat in the race to secure the services of middleweight free agents Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, via BoxingScene.com.
Last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Canelo (50-1-2, 34 KOs) won a twelve round majority decision over Gennady Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) to capture the WBC, WBA middleweight titles. The judge saw it 114-114, 115-113, 115-113. The fight was a rematch of their September 2017 contest, which saw the bout end in a controversial twelve round split draw.
In the aftermath of that fight, both boxers became TV free agents – as their network deals with HBO had expired. Canelo is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, while Golovkin is self-promoted with Tom Loeffler running GGG Promotions. For decades, HBO was regarded as the biggest network force in boxing.
No longer is that the case, as the network’s budget has been significantly slashed and their 2018 schedule of televised fights has been bare bones. Showtime, ESPN and DAZN are leading the way with their respective busy schedules.
Arum, as part of his exclusive deal with ESPN, would love to get Canelo and Golovkin on the network. He recently lured away several key fights from HBO, including the light heavyweight rematch between Sergey Kovalev and Eleider Alvarez, and the super featherweight clash between Miguel Berchelt and Miguel Roman.
“In our agreement with ESPN we will welcome all promoters,” Arum told ESPN Deportes.
“[Main Events CEO] Kathy Duva is coming with the rematch between (Sergey) Kovalev and (Eleider) Alvarez, [promoters] Fernando Beltran and Oswaldo Kuchle are coming with Miguel Berchelt and Miguel Roman; We are going to be open to everyone. And if Oscar de la Hoya is sincere and Golden Boy wants to make fights on ESPN in that agreement that we have, we are open to it, in the same way we will be for Tom Loeffler and Gennady Golovkin.”