I have been pretty dismissive of the idea that Canelo’s failed drug test will ever end up mattering in any way, but HBO threw some fuel on the fire of those who disagree with me during their broadcast of Dillian Whyte’s vicious knockout of Lucas Browne on Saturday. They didn’t promote the May 5th PPV at all.
I still ultimately think there is too much money at stake here for this fight to not happen come Cinco de Mayo, but the fact that HBO did not promote the pay per view broadcast for even a second is a concerning development. To make matters worse, ESPN’s Dan Rafael has pointed out on twitter that the distribution company putting the PPV broadcast into movie theaters, Fathom Events, has removed the show from its schedule entirely.
A few days ago the Nevada State Athletic Commission “temporarily suspended” Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) for his two failed tests for clenbuterol pending a hearing on April 10th. Ultimately I think the lack of promotion is simply the likes of Fathom and HBO being cautious not to promise a fight that is no longer guaranteed. That is bad, of course, but it isn’t a cancellation by any means.
Given the history of meat contamination with clenbuterol in Mexico and the fact that the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency cited a doctor arguing for that line of reasoning themselves leads me to still believe that that excuse is too convenient, fair or not. I full expect the Nevada State Athletic Commission to accept it and allow the fight to move forward. Canelo has also moved his camp stateside and has reportedly undergone consistent testing since, an argument that will also work in his favor.
Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) has been predictably unhappy about all of this. In fact, he has been quite uncharacteristically vocal about the whole thing. He and his team have also been saying that he will be fighting May 5th with or without Canelo Alvarez. Demetrius Andrade has been offering himself up as a replacement, but that kind of fighter talk rarely amounts to anything. Another realistic option could be to use Danny Jacobs for a rematch that would be well received. He is schedule to fight on April 28th and would only have to extend his training camp the one week.
Again, I strongly suspect this is much ado about nothing, but we won’t know for sure until April 10th.
