Negotiations stall for Golovkin-Alvarez rematch in September

Gennady Golovkin accepted a purse split short of 40% when he fought Canelo Alvarez in September. He won’t stand for that now, especially after Alvarez’s two positive drug tests scrapped their scheduled May rematch.

Golovkin is pushing for a more even split for a September rematch, a move Alvarez promoter Eric Gomez called “outrageous” on Friday. Later in the day, Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler argued that the request is appropriate.

“The only reason the May 5 fight didn’t happen is because Canelo failed two tests,” said Loeffler, who scheduled a replacement fight with Vanes Martirosyan that puts Golovkin’s International Boxing Federation belt on the line.

“There’s a lot of things Gennady is looking at that convince him he needs a more equitable split. He’s the champion. He’s not asking for more. He just wants it to be more equitable, and it’s my job and Eric’s job to see if we can figure it out.”

Unbeaten, three-belt middleweight champion Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 knockouts) was highly critical of Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) after he submitted two positive samples for the banned substance clenbuterol, which builds stamina and endurance in humans.

Instead of gaining a rematch that would’ve paid him at least $20 million, Golovkin settled for the second-round knockout of Martirosyan for $1 million at StubHub Center on May 5. Alvarez is suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission until Aug. 17 and intends to fight again Sept. 15.

Gomez said he’s already reached out to the promoters for World Boxing Organization champion Billy Joe Saunders and former secondary World Boxing Assn. champion Daniel Jacobs.

“I understand Canelo’s position … he’s looking to fight someone a lot easier than GGG [Golovkin] in September, and I think that’s why they’re not looking to negotiate a more fair deal with GGG,” Loeffler said.

Walking away from Golovkin is a risky move for Alvarez, who’s already stained by the positive tests and was seen as receiving at least one — if not two — preferential scorecards to gain last year’s draw in Nevada.

Loeffler pointed out that then-middleweight champion Miguel Cotto received a 55% purse split when he fought Alvarez in 2015. While the Mexican’s popularity has increased since then, Loeffler said, “We’re not even asking for a higher split as the champion now.

“It’s clear Canelo waited until he got to the point he believed he could beat Gennady. He couldn’t beat him. If Canelo was confident in the fight, he wouldn’t have a problem negotiating a more fair split.”

Loeffler said he expected to speak to Gomez again later Friday after Golovkin instructed the promoter to revise the terms.

“Gennady was 100% focused on May 5. Now that time has passed after the fight … Gennady clearly wants a more fair split, and now I’ll speak to Eric to see if we can salvage the fight,” Loeffler said. “There’s no question that it’s the biggest fight for both guys’ careers, and Canelo made more money fighting GGG than anyone else.”

Gomez went as far as contending that Golovkin was “scared” to fight Alvarez.

“Nobody can suggest GGG is afraid of fighting anybody. … The only reason we’re having this discussion right now is because Canelo failed two drug tests,” Loeffler said. “If he hadn’t, we would’ve had the biggest event in boxing. That situation created the postponement, and now Gennady wants more fair terms — to be compensated fairly — in the biggest fight for boxing.

“We had the third biggest gate in boxing ($27 million) and it wasn’t only because of Canelo.”