By Miguel Maravilla
The much anticipated rematch between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) of Mexico and Kazakhstan’s WBC, WBA, IBF middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) is in jeopardy sources have reported. The fight is scheduled to take place May 5th live on HBO Pay Per View at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, site of their first fight last September.
However, Canelo was suspended last week by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and is scheduled to appear for a hearing April 10th after twice testing positive for the banned substance Clenbuterol earlier this month. Canelo and his team issued a statement that the traces were due to contaminated meat in which there have been multiple confirmed cases in Mexico.
One major clue: T-Mobile Arena is offering refunds for those who purchased tickets according to MGM Grand officials.
A close source says that the rematch will be rescheduled for September. As far as Golovkin and a possible plan B, GGG has expressed his desire to unify all belts but for WBO middleweight champ Billy Joe Sanders (26-0, 12 KOs) of England to step in with a one month preparation is unlikely.
A more likely potential replacement is Gary O’Sullivan (27-2, 19 KOs) of Ireland. He was penciled in to headline May 4th on ESPN in Las Vegas, on the eve of the Canelo-GGG rematch.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see what develops. More info to come.
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