Middleweight champions Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin will likely collide in a title unification bout later this year, but the weight issue needs to be settled for the bout to take place.
Golovkin, who won in all 34 professional fights with 31 of those victories coming by knockout, insisted earlier this month that he will fight Alvarez at 160 pounds, which is the weight limit for middleweight boxers.
However, Alvarez, who is the reigning World Boxing Council middleweight champion, is still firm on his stance. Canelo said that he wants the fight to happen at a catchweight of 155 pounds.
Alvarez, who has a 46-1-1 record with 32 knockout victories, insisted that he previously agreed to fights where he had to move away from 155 pounds because his opponents had the leverage. But now that he feels he is the bigger draw, the Mexican boxing superstar reiterated in an interview with ESPN Deportes that he will not allow his opponent to have an advantage.
"There was a time where I had to give things up in order to have these big fights," said Alvarez, whose only loss came at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013. "I am now at a point where I don't have to give advantages to anyone. I believe this fight has to happen."
In a recent interview, Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya also insisted that Alvarez should have control in negotiation because he is the bigger draw. In fact, the Hall of Famer thinks that Alvarez deserves to have 90 percent of the purse.
But despite being the bigger draw, Alvarez might not have the leverage in the negotiation for the catchweight. Golovkin is the mandatory challenger to Canelo's WBC middleweight title, which means Alvarez has no other choice but to defend his title against the Kazakh or run risk of being stripped off his belt.
Both fighters will face different opponents in the first half of 2016 before their mandatory fight in September. Golovkin, who is the reigning International Boxing Federation, International Boxing Organization and World Boxing Association middleweight champion, will return to the ring in April. Canelo, on the other hand, will fight in May.
