Planting Time: How about a Canelo-GGG guarantee next to that olive tree?

By Norm Frauenheim-

World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman says an olive tree will be planted amid the neon surrounding Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena during the week of the Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan fight on May 7.

The tree, Sulaiman says, will be a symbol of peace and unity. It’s a nice idea. But few would confuse boxing with peace or unity. It’s about imminent violence. It’s why we watch.

It’s why we watch Donald Trump, too. Trump’s sneers, profanity and insults are straight out of a boxing news conference. That shouldn’t be a surprise. Trump learned the schtick as a business partner with Don King during the days when Mike Tyson fought in Atlantic City.

Are those debates getting huge ratings because people want to hear what Ted Cruz and John Kasich say? Didn’t think so. The network could sell the debates, pay-per-view, because Trump’s rhetoric heightens the drama, if not the sense that his over-the-top talk threatens to a degenerate into a real brawl.

Trump even went so far as to defend his manhood on Fox Thursday night. It was his response to Marco Rubio’s crack about his small hands. He sounded a lot like Tyson once did. Tyson has grown up since then. Too bad Trump hasn’t. Come to think of it, Trump could learn a lot from Tyson, who is lot more statesman-like these days than the presidential candidate with more insults than answers.

Trouble is, we all seem to be living in Trump’s world. After all, Trump’s angry rhetoric is the real reason Sulaiman said he plans to plant that olive tree. Everybody with something to say and sell is on the Trump bandwagon for the number of hits the mere mention of him generates in social media.

Even Oscar De La Hoya tossed out the Trump name during a Canelo-Khan press tour that stopped in London, New York and Los Angeles. De La Hoya says he actually decided to put together Canelo-versus-Khan – Catholic-versus-Muslim – while watching Trump channel Don Rickles during one of those debates. It’s a good story. It’s better marketing, a sure way to generate hits and tweets. Maybe a few olives, too.

Here’s one request of Sulaiman: Next to that tree, plant a guarantee that there will be an immediate Canelo-Gennady Golovkin fight if – as expected – Canelo beats Khan.

A lot of things were said during the Canelo-Khan tour. But when the inevitable question about Canelo-GGG was asked, the answer was always — and only — an assurance that it would happen. No specifics and no real time frame were included. Maybe, an olive tree represents a peaceful counter to Trump.

But boxing needs more than an olive branch. It needs Canelo-GGG. Without it, there won’t be much to harvest in its immediate future.