Golovkin Still Fighting on May 5th
Los Angeles (April 18, 2018)- Unified Middleweight Champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0-1 33KO’s) will still fight on May 5th at the StubHub Center in Carson, CA despite original opponent Saul “Canelo” Alvarez‘s withdrawal from the originally proposed mega-event rematch due to a positive test for banned substances.
Former Junior Middleweight contender Vanes Martirosyan (36-3-1 21KO’s) got the nod for the fight after a slew of public names fell off one by one as the deadline to make a fight approached. “When they asked me if I’d take this fight, I said yes. I didn’t ask about money at all. It’s a good show for L.A. Cinco De Mayo. Armenians will pack the place. I have a lot of Mexican fans. I do believe in my heart I’m going to beat (Golovkin) because he’s never fought someone with my style.” Said Martirosyan who hails from nearby Glendale.
“I’ve been training my ass off. I’m sparring, I’m on weight,”- Vanes Martirosyan
Martirosyan commands a sizeable local following from the large Armenian fan-base and has won over much of the tremendous Mexican fan-base in Los Angeles over the years communicating through twitter and interacting with fans and trolls to win the ever-so-hard to get LA love.
Tickets are priced in the low, and high range to sell-out the Stubhub in the short window of time left until fight night, and promoter Tom Loeffler indicated that extra bleachers will be moved in to accommodate the sizeable crowd expected for the event. “We are adding extra bleachers to accommodate the demand from Gennady’s fans. We are prepared for Gennady to break his own StubHub Center attendance record for a boxing event, which he set in 2014,” Loeffler was quoted.
“It wouldn’t be fair to him to let it go to waste just because Canelo was being punished,”-Abel Sanchez
Alvarez Suspended For Six Months
Saul Alvarez was handed a six month suspension today by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after testing positive on two occasions for the banned and now infamous substance Clenbuterol. A statement from promoter Golden Boy read “Canelo looks forward to returning to the ring in September for Mexican Independence Day weekend to represent Mexico and boxing in what will be the sport’s biggest event of the year. He is ready to continue his remarkable record of fighting at the highest level.” Indicating the rematch will still take place in September.
Alvarez’s punishment riled up the twitter universe with some questioning its severity. Boxing’s main-stream media deemed the loss of an eight figure payday was penalty enough for the superstar given his economic contributions to boxing.
The punishment doled to Alvarez and loss of an eight figure payday still has yet to make up the loss of economic impact in the range of hundreds of millions to the Las Vegas economy. Sharing in big money lost is sponsor Tecate and promoters Golden Boy and Tom Loeffler for the extravagant event held outside the Staples Center kicking off the press coverage for the rematch. Whether or not a deal to recoup losses has been made is unknown.
Golovkin trainer Abel Sanchez has pulled no punches since the positive test. Most recently Sanchez was seen eating a steak and talking about what it takes to be great. Effects laden flashes of Golovkin looking menacing during training and the hashtag #NODRAW flashing on the screen of a Jordan brand commercial, an apparent reference to Alvarez’s excuse of tainted meat for the positive test result hit the mark as a snarky promotion for the Khazak fighter’s disdain for Canelo’s positive test result.
With a fight now in place questions still remain regarding Golovkins IBF title that was moved to the front of the rotation as the next mandatory requirement with the withdrawal of the WBC’s contender Alvarez. IBF Mandatory Sergiy Derevyanchenko would’ve been the opponent for the IBF and promoter Lou DiBella was vocal on twitter wanting the fight. Whether or not step aside money was given or an exception of IBF rules was made has not been made public.
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