Oscar De La Hoya, doubting Gennady Golovkin’s drawing power, will redo offer for Canelo fight

Oscar De La Hoya is crafting a new offer to Gennady Golovkin for a super fight in September in light of the poor pay-per-view numbers from Saturday’s fight against Daniel Jacobs.

De La Hoya told the Los Angeles Times in an interview Thursday night that he is “pulling off the table” the verbal deal for Golovkin to fight De La Hoya’s Mexican star Canelo Alvarez in September and is now hinging Golovkin’s purse to pay-per-view sales.

“Something Oscar wants to try to get the fight done,” said Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions president. “Canelo has to approve it. We feel it will get us over the hump and we can finalize an agreement in place for the fight. A little complicated, but it can work.”

Three industry sources told The Times that Golovkin-Jacobs generated no more than 150,000 buys, a number that irritated Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler.

“A little disappointing, because that was a great fight,” Gomez said of the low buys. “It is what it is.… They were up against a lot of stuff. We’ve been in those same shoes … college football has hurt us. It’s unfortunate. You have to find the right dates.”

The college basketball tournament and the World Baseball Classic pulled some sports viewers away from Golovkin’s competitive, unanimous-decision victory over Jacobs on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The decision ended Golovkin’s 23-fight knockout streak.

Gomez said Alvarez’s trainer, Chepo Reynoso, has said he found vulnerabilities in Golovkin. Gomez praised the inspired effort of Jacobs. “Danny did so well. Used angles. Counter-punched. Knew when to attack. Danny Jacobs is a legitimate champion. No excuses. Danny Jacobs happened.”

De La Hoya was not impressed in Golovkin’s drawing power, saying his new offer, which will be discussed Friday with Alvarez at his San Diego training camp, is being done “to make it fair.

“Because when Triple-G [Golovkin] and Jacobs does between 100,000 and 200,000 homes, it’s a big risk for me to put up a lot of money up front,” De La Hoya said. “So if we want to make this fight happen, we have to work with each other. It all depends on the pay-per-view and that’s the risk we all have to take.”

Gomez is expected to meet with Loeffler next week.

De La Hoya said it’s ideal to strike agreement on the parameters of a deal, but nothing will be signed until after Alvarez’s May 6 pay-per-view bout against the popular Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I have to respect Chavez because from what I’m hearing, he’s going to be a dangerous fight for Canelo,” De La Hoya said. “It’s going to be competitive.”

Amid concerns that the boxing pay-per-view model is in trouble because of Periscope pirating, the increased placement of important bouts on network television and competition with UFC, De La Hoya said Golovkin’s numbers revealed something else.

“It obviously shows you there’s only one pay-per-view guy and that’s Canelo,” De La Hoya said.

Alvarez has come the closest to reaching 1 million buys since the disappointing May 2015 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao bout when his fight against Miguel Cotto that year reached 900,000. He also staged a lucrative 2013 showing against Mayweather in Alvarez’s lone defeat.

“People talk about Golovkin being this big superstar. Why is he selling only between 100,000 and 200,000 homes?” De La Hoya asked. “He’s no Canelo, that’s for sure.”