Dark days seem to certainly lie ahead for those who have been looking forward to the rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez on May 5th. The high profile boxing media is now treating the fight as if it is a foregone conclusion that it will be canceled due to Canelo’s failed drug test. If it is, who will be his replacement?
Thirty seven days out from May 5th, the boxing and larger sports media are now treating the potential cancellation of the mega-lucrative rematch between two of the sport’s biggest stars as a given. ESPN’s Dan Rafael is calling the cancellation “a virtual certainty” now that the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s executive director Bob Bennett has filed a formal complaint against the Mexican superstar, for example. Personally, I am still having a hard time wrapping my head around the sport of boxing actually doing the right thing in the face of instead making a lot of money, but those more in the know than me seem to think that is the direction we are heading with a degree of confidence. Tickets are even being refunded now.
If that is the case, Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) is in need of a new opponent for May 5th. The Kazakh star has been very clear about his intention to still fight on that date. Accordingly, a number of opponents have been floated around as possibilities to fill in. Let’s take a look at the list of names and try to evaluate both how likely the matchup could be and what it would look like in the ring:
- Billy Joe Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs) – To me it is pretty clear that British WBO titleholder Billy Joe Saunders is the ideal replacement for Canelo Alvarez. No fight can salvage the superfight feel of the originally scheduled rematch, but Saunders’s star has never been brighter than it is now following his absolute schooling of David Lemieux on HBO in December. Furthermore, this would completely unify the middleweight division for the first time since Jermain Taylor gave up the IBF belt thirteen years ago to rematch Bernard Hopkins. Unfortunately, Saunders is nursing an injury right now that pushed his April 14th defense back to late June. Could he be ready for a May 5th fight against Gennady Golovkin? I’m skeptical and I don’t think he or his team would want to take the fight at less than 100%.
- Demetrius Andrade (25-0, 16 KOs) – Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade is a very talented fighter who made his middleweight debut in October on HBO to mixed reviews. Inactivity has been Andrade’s curse as he has been entirely unable to consistently find himself in the ring for whatever reason over the past five or so years. Given that he has no fight scheduled as usual, Andrade seems very available for the date and is already an HBO fighter. It isn’t exactly an exciting matchup given that Boo Boo didn’t light the world on fire in October, but he has real talent and he might be the second best option available. He also is probably more realistic than Saunders.
- Spike O’Sullivan (27-2, 14 KOs) – Irish middleweight Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan shot new life into his career with an impressive and somewhat unexpected dominant stoppage win over Antoine Douglas on HBO in December. He’s available, a reasonably credible contender, and probably reasonably cheap. I really hope that his fight does not happen as I don’t think the Irishman has much to offer as a threat to even a mildly faded Gennady Golovkin, but I do think this is a very realistic option being looked at by Golovkin and his team.
- Jaime Munguia (28-0, 24 KOs) – Mexican prospect Jaimie Munguia is the most recent option I have seen tossed around and definitely the most horrific. I actually really like the unbeaten 21 year old and have been covering him in my weekly Under the Radar Fight Results column for some time, but he is both a junior middleweight and no where near ready for this fight. Munguia is an exciting brawler with very real power who takes shots to give shots. Against Gennady Golovkin, he would get absolutely rolled at this point in his career. It’d probably be a fun two rounds though at least. Hopefully this rumor passes quickly.
Part of me still expects the big fight to go on as scheduled. There is little in the history of the sport to suggest that a big money fight like this one can be derailed by a failed drug test, especially one with an easy built in excuse like Mexican tainted beef. If it doesn’t, however, we might be looking at one of the worst HBO PPV main events in some time unless Billy Joe Saunders can be lured into taking the fight.
