The most anticipated rematch of the year could be in serious jeopardy. The threat of Gennady Golovkin versus Canelo Alvarez being cancelled is very real according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael.
The Mexican boxing superstar was suspended last week by the Nevada State Athletic Commission due to his two failed drug tests which indicated traces of clenbuterol, a banned performance-enhancing drug.
Anyone who doubts #CaneloGGG2 isn't in legitimate serious jeopardy of being canceled due to Canelo's 2 failed PED tests I offer just one exhibit: HBO didn't use its Saturday fight telecast to promote the PPV & left it off it's upcoming calendar of events. This is serious, folks.
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) March 25, 2018
HBO has currently paused promotion for the rematch since Canelo’s future is unclear. He will go in front of the commission on April 10.
“Mr. Alvarez is temporarily suspended for his adverse analytical finding, and an April 10 meeting with the Nevada Athletic Commission will fully address this adverse analytical finding,” said the head of NSAC, Bob Bennett.
ESPN’s Rafael believes that the rematch on May 5 is in danger of being cancelled.
Those who say Canelo's hearing is just for show you have no idea what you're talking about. #CaneloGGG2 is in serious jeopardy. Remember, the same Nevada commission declined to license Tyson years ago & sent the Lewis fight, biggest in #boxing history at the time, elsewhere.
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) March 25, 2018
Another exhibit of how much in jeopardy #CaneloGGG2 is of being canceled: Fathom Events, distributer of the PPV in movie theaters around the U.S. (as it has been for many Canelo PPVs), no longer lists it in its schedule & has removed all material on the fight from its website.
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) March 25, 2018
Ray Stallone of HBO’s sports media relations confirmed that promotion for the fight has been put on hold until Canelo’s situation is solved.
I asked HBO spokesman @raysports on Sunday about the lack of #CaneloGGG2 promotion/calendar listing on Saturday's @HBOboxing telecast. "When a fighter is temporarily suspended it's best to pause on programming promotion and resume when all is settled," he said. #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) March 25, 2018
Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler stated that they still have every intention to fight on the schedulled date and there are a couple of opponents from which to choose from.
Promoter @TomLoeffler1 to me the other day: "Whatever the commission does, Gennady would still fight May 5 if Canelo is out. If for some reason it's not against Canelo, we'll figure out the best course of action at that time, but he is training to fight May 5." #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) March 25, 2018
The two strongest replacements for Canelo would be Danny Jacobs and Billy Joe Saunders, although officially the WBO World middleweight champion is sitting on the sidelines due to a hand injury and is set to defend his title against Martin Murray on June 23rd.
Jacobs is fighting Maciej Sulecki (26-0) on April 28 and if he gets past the Polish middleweight, ‘The Miracle Man’ might get the call to fight Golovkin again but this time on relatively short notice.
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