Canelo Alvarez Likely To Face Billy Joe Saunders As Gennady Golovkin Eludes Trilogy

The much-awaited showdown between Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders is looming after Gennady Golovkin decided to skip the third fight against the Mexican champion this year. The Kazakh opts to take on the undefeated mandatory challenger Kamil Szeremeta for his next fight, leaving Saunders alone in Canelo’s target point heading into an intended return in September.

“I made a commitment before all this situation with coronavirus happened,” Golovkin told Sports Illustrated. “I’m talking about my fight with Szeremeta. I intend to keep my word. Once the situation changes, as soon as everything is back to normal, I intend to have this fight first.”

Triple G clarified that he still intends to fight Alvarez in their trilogy match, only that his resolve for his principles made him decide to face the undefeated challenger first.

But more than his morals, Golovkin said that “the uncertainty surrounding every potential decision” contributed to his choice to delay the Alvarez fight.

“(Golovkin) did not rule out anything, really, except for the related points he made clear repeatedly. He wants to fight the mandatory first, and then he wants to fight Canelo, and he wants to resume his career as soon as it’s possible to do so safely,” Greg Bishop of SI wrote.

Furthermore, the 38-year-old stressed the failure of Alvarez’s team to secure the bout during the first time it was laid on the table.

“I should point out that there is always two sides,” said Golovkin, who is in quarantine in Los Angeles with his family. “They actually avoided this fight in September. They didn’t want to fight in May of 2020. So I went my way. I have my own career, and I figured: How long should I wait?”

Golovkin is aiming to level the score against Alvarez, who prevailed via a close call in the rematch a year after they settled for a draw in their first meeting in 2017. But as present indications suggest, that would have to wait a bit longer.

GGG (40-1-1, 35) holds the IBF and IBO middleweight titles after defeating Sergiy Derevyanchenko via a unanimous decision last September. Alvarez (53-1-2, 36), meanwhile, has possessed the unified WBA, WBC, The Ring, and lineal middleweight titles since 2018.