Two of the biggest fights that can be made in boxing might be on the horizon for the first half of 2018. Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez are moving closer to a Cinco De Mayo rematch of their dispute middleweight championship draw while Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker are reportedly looking to meet on March 31st.
Both Gennady Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler and Golden Boy president Eric Gomez have been on the record concerning being close to finalizing a deal secure the big middleweight championship rematch on May 5th. The weekend of Cinco De Mayo has been the biggest fight weekend for Mexican fighters during the first half of the year for some time now. Accordingly, this has been long assumed the logical rematch date.
Eric Gomez told ESPN that he was hoping to have the deal done “maybe this week,” though that was almost a week ago now. Loeffler has told the same outlet that “I’m optimistic that the fight will happen in May.” He also noted that a return for the deposed recent pound for pound king Chocolatito Gonzalez would likely return on the undercard. This rematch would immediately become the most anticipated fight of 2018 once signed.
Similarly, WBO heavyweight titleholder Joseph Parker’s co-promoter Bob Arum has been on the record with Ring Magazine by stating that “We’re very, very close. It’s going to happen,” when asked about a rumored fight with WBA and IBF titleholder Anthony Joshua. Joseph Parker himself has said the deal is all but done, that the teams are simply arguing about a purse split at this point.
A fight with Joseph Parker maybe isn’t what the boxing world wants out of British superstar Anthony Joshua, but a win there and a third belt will only make the more clamored for potential matchup with American titleholder Deontay Wilder that much bigger. If these two fights get signed and delivered, 2018 will be off to one hell of a start in the boxing world.
