News stunned the boxing world last week of a world super-middleweight title fight between Canelo Alvarez and Rocky Fielding.
The fight will take place on December 15 at Madison Square Garden. It gives Canelo the opportunity to win a third-weight world title.
So what does this mean for Gennady Golovkin if Canelo succeeds?
The middleweight stars have just recently met for the second time. Canelo came out on top in a close decision, with a third contest now on the cards.
But at what weight? Should Canelo defeat Fielding, there could be calls to stage the trilogy bout at 168 pounds.
Golovkin would then also have a chance to break out of his career-long run at 160. Potentially to win a belt at a higher weight class himself.
Canelo’s current WBA and WBC middleweight belts may well be vacated should he rip away Fielding’s belt before Christmas, possibly leaving ‘GGG’ and Jermall Charlo to pick up the pieces.
A jump up in poundage for a Cinco de Mayo battle would be unlikely to take place. That is if Golovkin decides to take up a WBC offer to fight Charlo.
Another September window would be free for a third fight at the super-middleweight limit but it all depends on Golovkin.
If Golovkin decides against moving up completely, at least to a catchweight, a third fight with Canelo could be off the table.
DAZN
An official announcement of Canelo v Fielding in New York is due any day and could see the Mexican compete on the DAZN platform for the first time.
Either that or De La Hoya agrees to take Canelo to Showtime for a Pay-Per-View event, in order to keep his star fighter’s run on the paid format alive.
HBO’s decision to drop boxing from their schedule has left a gap in the market. It will be interesting to see where a huge PPV fighter like Canelo now heads.
Should that destination be Eddie Hearn’s new US partners, we could well be seeing Canelo v GGG 3 on DAZN in the coming year.
