Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin Rematch In Jeopardy

There is a major hurdle in the way of making the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin rematch happen.

If you recall, just last September, Alvarez and Golovkin fought to a split draw. The rematch was in place but a failed drug test put the fight on hold.

Back in March, it was revealed that Alvarez tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol in an out-of-competition drug test.

Golden Boy released a press release that stated the low trace of clenbuterol in Alvarez’s system is “consistent with meat contamination that has impacted dozens of athletes in Mexico over the last few years.”

The rematch was slated to go down on May 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas but was nixed.

Golovkin wound up boxing Vanes Martirosyan and won the fight by KO in just two rounds.

Now, with Golovkin and Alvarez free, most people would think that the promoters are attempting to make this rematch happen as soon as possible but that’s not the case. In their first fight, the revenue split was 70-30 in Canelo’s favor.

The rematch for May 5 was supposedly marked at 65-35. Now, after Canelo’s positive drug test, Golovkin wants terms to be 50-50.

“All Gennady came back with is that, ‘I just want a fair split, I want a 50-50 split. I’m the champion,’” Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler said (via LA Daily News). “We made a lot of concessions for the first fight, was a very low percentage for Gennady. We made a lot of concessions for the rematch after Gennady proved his value.

“But Canelo, for whatever reason, was insisting on still having a huge advantage. … It was 65-35 percent for the rematch and Gennady thinks that’s just not fair. Taking 35 percent as the champion is just not fair.”

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya has kicked up some drama by going on record by telling Ring Magazine that he doesn’t believe Golovkin even wants the rematch.

“It’s clear to us that Golovkin doesn’t want to fight Canelo,” De La Hoya said during a phone interview. “It’s clear to us that after all the demands that they made, after Canelo having to do the hair follicle test, having to enroll in VADA, having to be tested by the Nevada State Athletic Commission randomly even before he was enrolled in VADA, it’s clear that GGG is afraid.

“So we’re going to move on and I’m going to start making phone calls to (Daniel Jacobs’) people, to (Billy Joe) Saunders’ people, start making calls to (Jermall) Charlo and (Spike) O’Sullivan.”