LIVE VIDEO: Canelo vs Kovalev Undercard Media Workout

CANELO VS. KOVALEV FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES,

LAS VEGAS (Oct. 30, 2019): Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) and Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs) hosted their final press conference today ahead of their 12-round fight for Kovalev’s WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. The event will take place on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN.

Below is what the fighters and their teams had to say at today’s final press conference:

Canelo Alvarez, WBC Franchise, WBA, Lineal, RingMagazine Middleweight World Champion and WBA Super Middleweight World Champion:

“I want to say thank you to all of you guys, familiar faces, I want to thank you for all the support you’ve given me throughout my entire career. Thank you to Main Events, Golden Boy, DAZN, everybody, thank you. I’m ready. I’m ready to make history. I’m ready for this great fight with Kovalev. Thank you to my team, to my family, thank you to my beautiful daughter who’s here – hi my love, I love you. We are ready to win.”

Why Kovalev? “Because he’s the best in his division, he’s one of the best, that’s why we chose him, to make history by fighting one of the best.”

175 vs. 160: “I feel comfortable, I feel good, we’ll see on Saturday how it all goes but I feel good.”

Sergey Kovalev, WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion:

“I’m sure this fight is going to be very interesting and very difficult for both of us because we never step back, never give up. I have to thank all my team, all of team Golden Boy and Canelo, and also thank you to all the people who are involved in this fight. Thanks to Las Vegas, thanks to MGM Grand for a nice stay and for everything. Thanks to all my boxing fans, let’s make a fight this Saturday.”

“My goal is to break his strategy and use my strategy in the fight. My goal is to defend this title and follow my dreams.”

Were you offended that Canelo chose you, perhaps seeing you as an easy win? “No, I’m happy. It’s nice that this is the biggest call in my boxing career, and to face Canelo, I’m happy. This is a big test for me – to prove one more time, I’m the best light heavyweight in the division.”

Will you be the first to KO Canelo? “You know, let’s fight, and in the fight you’ll get to see. It’s not my goal, because when you follow that goal, you can’t do it. I just want to get into the ring and box very well and make a great fight for boxing fans and the boxing world.”

“We’re two great champions, and right now, we respect each other inside and outside the ring. But we will do our job very well for the boxing fans. And we will be fighting, never step back, never give up, we will make a great fight 100%.”

Eddy Reynoso, Head Trainer and Manager of Canelo Alvarez:

“We have been in camp, we’ve been training, and as I told Saul, we are ready for this and we will show on Saturday what we have been preparing for. Kovalev, we have great respect for him as a fighter, great respect for his trainer and respect for his camp. We have trained, we have prepared, and we are ready for Saturday and to win.”

Jose “Chepo” Reynoso, Trainer and Manager of Canelo Alvarez:

“Everything is teamwork, everybody puts in a little bit to make this happen, so thank you to everyone for this. And I want to give thanks to the great fighter Kovalev for accepting this fight. This allowed history to be made, and because of him accepting this fight, Saul will be winning his fourth division title. Thank you to the people that participated in the sparring for this great fight, it was different, and it contributed a lot for us to be prepared for this.”

“A very special thanks to Saul, we have been together for 14 years, and we’ve come a long way and we are here in a very special moment. And this Saturday, Saul will have his cake with four candles – each candle for each division that he has won a title. On Saturday, expect Saul to be on the list of the immortals of this sport.”

Egis Klimas, Manager of Sergey Kovalev:

“I’m so proud to represent one of the best fighters in boxing, Sergey Kovalev. But I’m more proud to be involved in this historical fight, which all the fans want. I can’t talk much about what it means to win for Canelo, because he’s already a legendary fighter. He’s already top of the line. Sergey has bounced up and down, but I can tell you one thing – if Sergey can win this fight, which I believe he will, he will become the most recognized and the best fighter in the history of Russia. Let’s hope we’re going to have a good time, both guys are going to stay safe, and enjoy Saturday night’s fight.”

James “Buddy” McGirt, Trainer of Sergey Kovalev

“It’s going to be a great show Saturday. Most importantly, I have to thank Mr. Alvarez for making this fight happen. So much respect. I think you’re one of the best out there, and it’s going to be a great night of boxing on Saturday. I’m happy that 20 years from now, I can say I was a part of that. Everybody be ready, Sergey has some tricks up his sleeves, I know Alvarez does. Mr. Reynoso has done a great job with him since the Mayweather fight, he’s improved a whole lot, but you’ll see what we’ve been doing Saturday night.

Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy:

“This is a very important battle for Canelo and Sergey Kovalev and there’s a lot at stake for both fighters. When we first started working with Canelo over a decade ago, we knew he was destined to be great. I think we are all aware now that we are witnessing greatness in the making. What does it mean to be great? To be considered great at anything, a person must be above average, they must exceed what’s normal. We say some fighters are good, others are bad, but we reserve the term for those who are considerably above average, and through their various accomplishments they’re able to achieve that status. Few fighters in the history of boxing can be considered great, and this small group of people develops a fierce ambition and spirit of competition. This ambition comes natural to them. For me that’s what motivated me to spend of my teenage years putting aside the amusements of youth for the responsibility of greatness.”

“At the same time every natural gift must be cultivated by competition. You need to test your talents with other people who also have that same ambition. But what happens when those equal strengths and sizes are no longer competitive? Then the task becomes looking for even bigger challenges and I think that’s what makes a fighter great – the ambition to succeed, the spirit to compete, and the initiative to keep looking for that next challenge. This is an accomplishment that has only been achieved by an elite group of fighters. Bernard Hopkins did it moving from middleweight to light heavyweight, and I did it by moving several divisions throughout my career. Canelo is now attempting to become a four-weight world champion, an accomplishment that has only been achieved by an elite group of fighters. Canelo will also look to become the second Mexican fighter to capture the 175 title in the history of Mexican boxing, and Canelo will attempt that by fighting one of the most feared punchers in recent years. Kovalev is a three-time world champion. Kovalev is one of the most avoided fighters in his own division. With Kovalev’s strength and power, he can end the fight at any moment.”

“This is what it looks like when you have the initiative to keep looking for that next challenge. And then, only then, is the competition no longer against the man in front of you. It’s now between you and history. For those wanting to witness history from the comfort of their homes, the fight will be streamed live on DAZN. We want to thank DAZN for giving us the best platform in boxing.”

Bernard Hopkins, Hall of Famer and Golden Boy Business Partner:

“First, thanks everyone for supporting the fights that matter. For Canelo, I commend you again and respect you not only as a fighter, but as a man and not only as a champion, but as a business. I have super profound respect for Canelo because I have a history of taking on the best, and I see in the legacy that he’s building that Canelo has the same spirit. I know that he’s in the right mindset based on fighting the best in that division – none other than The Krusher. Thanks for bringing fights like this that make boxing a conversation in homes, coffee shops, bars, number houses in Philadelphia, as a conversation like other big sports whether it’s a playoff in the NBA, whether it’s NFL, golf, boxing is being talked about. And to see that, to me, Golden Boy, my partner Oscar De La Hoya, Eric, Robert, they are all on the same page and taking action to make these fights happen.”

“I must continue to tell you your job is not to be biased, or to be with us all the time, but to write what you see and write what’s being done. And that’s more important than what you’ve heard. And not being the first one to get it out, because at the end of the day, you do your own independent analysis. Enjoy the fight November 2 because I know Canelo will have his hands full and Sergey Kovalev is going to be ready. I’m very happy and very satisfied that boxing has been passed down, like you pass a baton, to these two great fighters, making it even greater.”

Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events:

“I also want to thank the fighters, because without them, without guys who want to take risks, we don’t get to have great events like this one. The first time I ever watched Sergey Kovalev fight a round, I knew he was something special. I want to thank him today for proving me right about that. I also want to thank Canelo Alvarez for calling Sergey out because that took a lot of courage and that’s what it takes to be a great fighter, and we know he has it.”

About the Matryoshka doll she surprised Sergey with that artistically documented some of his career-defining moments: “The one thing all those fights had in common, is that they happened in the other fighter’s hometown. Sergey won them all, he drew strength from the crowd that was booing him, and he plans to make that happen again on Saturday.”

Richard Sturm, President of Las Vegas Live Entertainment and Sports:

“MGM Grand is thrilled to host this highly-anticipated matchup between two great champions – Canelo Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev, Saturday evening, as they make their return to Las Vegas. This will certainly be an exciting night as Canelo moves up in weight. We look forward to seeing you Saturday night for this great event.”

Bob Bennett, Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission:

“We are certainly honored and privileged to regulate these fights and we are prepared to go to work. Most importantly, we would like to thank the fighters and recognize them. Because of the fighters, they keep boxing exciting, alive, and continue to make history.”

Joe Markowski, EVP of DAZN North America:

“I would like to thank all the journalists who have traveled to Las Vegas for this week’s fight. Since our launch last September, you’ve kept us on our toes, challenged us to always do better but more importantly, you’ve been willing to keep an open dialogue with a new entrant into this storied sport. Since our launch last year, we’ve assembled the best schedule in boxing – something you’ve seen us market as Fight Season on DAZN, akin to the consistency that fans expect from the NFL and NBA. It’s a true season of fight sports to close out 2019.”

“Week on week, month on month, more subscribers are being treated to great events with interesting narratives – and no fight embodies that description better than Canelo vs. Kovalev. This is a hugely important week for the sport of boxing, a hugely important night for DAZN, and our biggest fight we’ve put on to date in the United States.”

“It’s one thing for a fighter to jump up two weight classes but it’s a different kettle of fish to jump up two weight classes and challenge the biggest name in the division. Canelo as we all know is not your typical fighter. His drive to continually seek out new challenges is truly admirable. In a little more than 10 months, Canelo has already fought three times on DAZN. He is the biggest draw in boxing, we couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title
presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN. The title clash is one of several highlights this fight season on DAZN – an entire fall featuring boxing’s biggest matchups in one of the best schedules in boxing history.

Tickets for Canelo vs. Kovalev are on sale and are priced at $1,754, $1,254,
$854, $654, $404 and $204, not including applicable service charges and taxes. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.axs.com

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com,
www.MainEvents.com and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez,
https://www.facebook.com/thekrusher/, https://www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxing and
https://www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying
and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloKovalev to a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy or Main Events where applicable for any photo and/or video usage.

LIVE VIDEO: #CaneloKovalev Final Press Conference

LIVE VIDEO: Canelo LIVE Pre-Presser Interviews

CANELO VS. KOVALEV GRAND ARRIVALS QUOTES

LAS VEGAS (Oct. 29, 2019): Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) and Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs) made their grand arrivals today at the MGM Grand Resort and Casino in Las Vegas ahead of their 12-round fight for Kovalev’s WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. The event will take place on Saturday, Nov 2, 2019 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN.

Below is what the fighters had to say at today’s grand arrivals:

Canelo Alvarez, WBC Franchise, WBA, Lineal, Ring Magazine Middleweight World Champion and WBA Super Middleweight World Champion:

“As always, I’m very grateful that everybody is here, I’m very honored and I’m ready. This is very important for myself, for my career, for my history, for my family, for my team. To be a world champion in four different weight classes would be another chapter of my story.”

“Everything has been different, the weight, the training, and I can’t wait to see how it goes on Nov 2. I’ll do my best.”

Does the fan support ever get old? “No, it’s very motivating. This motivates me and I’m ready for triumph.”

Sergey Kovalev, WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion:

“I feel great. I’m here for my glory. For my story. For my history. A couple fights ago, when I started to work with my new team Buddy McGirt and Teddy Cruz, they gave me back my belief in myself. With this team I can do more. You can see, with my last fights, a little bit of change to my technique and style. I’m ready to fight 12 rounds.”

“It’s not the goal to knock someone out, I just need to follow my instructions from the corner, from my coach, and everything will be fine.”

Is Canelo going from 160 to 175 a mistake? “You know, I respect his steps and his risks. This is boxing, but in boxing, only real men try to prove themselves, that they’re a real fighter, and Canelo is that. But this is my division, I have been in this division since my first fight, and I want to make my history, my story. He’s just trying. Right now, 175 has a lot of good fights right now, a lot of good fighters right now, even Canelo has come to 175.”

On all the boos from Canelofans: “I want to disappoint a lot of people on Saturday. In England, everybody was going against me, but after the fight, everyone was asking for my autograph. Your boo is good!”

Ryan Garcia, Lightweight Contender:

On his Fierce King jacket: “It’s just my new brand, so I wanted to rock it. I created the design and I just like the name, Fierce King. My nickname’s King and I’m fierce in the ring.”

On his social media presence: “It’s just an easy thing to talk about. I don’t really talk about it. I just focus on what I’m doing in the ring. Everyone else talks a lot, they like to mention my social media, but it’s an easy way to connect with my fans. With the click of a button, that’s 3.6 million fans, and I can update them and show them what I’m doing in the gym and with my training.”

“I’m here now, it don’t matter what he was thinking. I’m here now, I’m ready to do my thing Saturday night and prove that I’m the better fighter. Words are cheap, I’m just ready to show what I can do.”

On what a win Saturday would say to his naysayers: “I don’t know what it says to them, that’s up to their own judgment. I believe in myself and my team believes in me and that’s all that matters. This is a big moment and a big time in my life, so thank you all for your support.”

Romero Duno, NABO Lightweight Champion:

“I’m feeling excited. This is a big card. A lot of people said that King Ryan is going to beat you, but I said to myself that maybe I can have a technique to counter that kind of speed.”

Was he upset that Ryan Garcia didn’t accept his offer to fight in Carson last month after Avery Sparrow was taken off the card? “No, I respect the decision because I know that King Ryan had already prepared for a different opponent, and that’s why he didn’t accept the offer.”

“It feels so good. I’m so thankful to Golden Boy Promotions and to Oscar for putting me on this big card.”

Seniesa Estrada, WBC Silver Light Flyweight Champion:

“I’m feeling great, I had an amazing training camp and I’m just going to let all the work show in the ring Saturday night.”

“It’s very personal, even after I win I still won’t like her. There’s been a lot of talk from her for the past two years. I do my talking in the ring. Saturday night, we’re going to show who’s really the best.”

On Esparza saying she’s been ducking her: “That’s a lie, I’ve been wanting to fight her. I accepted this fight before she did and I was ready to go. I don’t fear anybody and Marlen Esparza will be the least one that I fear. I’m just ready to put on an exciting fight for women’s boxing and for the sport on Saturday night.”

Marlen Esparza, NABO Flyweight Champion:

Why is this fight finally happening now? “I forced it. I forced it for a long time, after I came back I really felt like I needed to go ahead and ask for it because I knew it was going to take a while. It was something that I was promised a long time ago but I’m back and I really want to fight.”

“It was really good, it was probably one of the best training camps of my life. I’m in a really good place mentally and when you get to this level of boxing, that’s what’s the most important. After so many years, you know how to box, it’s really the mentality and I feel like I’ve never been in a better place.”

“I don’t like her because she used my name to try to get signed before I turned pro. Before I turned pro, she said I used to run from her in the amateurs. And when I turned pro, a lot of the promoters were asking me if that was the truth. Anyone would get mad getting their name used, and completely not the truth too.”

“It’s such a big fight for women’s boxing. I feel like this will be a reintroduction into the boxing world and I feel like I’m in the best place to do it, and to represent women’s boxing with another girl who is Mexican-American. I couldn’t be in a better situation.”

“I just don’t like her. She’ll hate me even more after this. It is what it is.”

Blair Cobbs, Junior NABF Welterweight Champion:

“I was born with this confidence, I was born with this flair, I was born with everything that we have here. I was born for this moment. I am Blair ‘The Flair.'”

“It means it’s the opportunity for me to take over. Take over the show, the whole world. Millions around the world are going to see the baddest, the most exciting man in boxing today – Blair ‘The Flair’ Cobbs.”

“Shock and awe. You’re going to be shocked at everything that you see coming out of Blair ‘The Flair,’ you’re going to be raising to the edge of your seats every time you see Blair ‘The Flair.’ show. Look out for me because I am the best in boxing today.”

LIVE VIDEO: Canelo live at the VIP Roundtable

LIVE VIDEO: Grand Arrivals #CaneloKovalev

Blair Cobbs Training Camp Quotes

AS VEGAS, NV (October 28, 2019) – Unbeaten welterweight, Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (12-0-1, 8 KOs), who is managed by Prince Ranch Boxing’s Greg Hannley and promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, has his sights set on steeling the show when he faces Carlos Ortiz (11-4, 11 KOs) on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez versus Sergey Kovalev ,November 2, 2019, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Cobbs vs. Ortiz will be a 10-round bout for the NABF welterweight title, and all the action will air live on DAZN. Live coverage of main card begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Here is what Blair Cobbs, who is also advised by Shahid Malik, had to say about his upcoming fight with Ortiz.

On his recent training camp with trainers Brandon Woods and Bones Adams:

“I really feel that I took my boxing IQ to a new level during this training camp. My coaches Brandon Woods and Bones Adams have got me looking sharp in the gym. I’m starting to understand what they want from me and works best with my God given talent. I can do many different things in the ring and it’s all starting to come together now. I’m in great shape and my body feels rested. All the preparation is finally over and now it’s time to zero in on the task at hand.”

On his matchup against Ortiz:

“I know Ortiz is a southpaw who comes to fight and has a lot of heart. He’s has had plenty of time to prepare for me, so I know he’s coming with his best, just like everyone who steps in the ring with me. My trainers got a masterful game plan in place, and I’m ready to execute. Expect me to control the fight from the opening bell. I’m not going to let this man breathe. If I see an opening, I’m going for the knockout.”

On fighting for the NABF Welterweight title:

“Winning the NABF title is something special because some of the greats have won that belt when they were on their way up to a world title shot. This is the fight that will get me to where I’m trying to go, which is to get ranked in the top 15. I know in due time I’ll get an opportunity to make my dreams come true, and fight for a world title.”

On fighting in Las Vegas on the Canelo vs. Kovalev card:

“Everyone knows Las Vegas is the boxing capitol of the world, and it’s where I call home now. I’m ready to become a super star in this sport. Since I moved to Las Vegas a few years ago, I’ve always saw myself fighting on a big card and here we are. I’m happy that Golden Boy and DAZN have me as the opening bout of the main card. They see the charisma and excitement that I bring to the ring, its what the fans want to see. I’m going to be my electrifying self and everyone watching will see a star in the making. Each fight is getting bigger and bigger and I can’t wait till I’m the main event on a big card like this. It’s Blair “The Flair” Time…Woooo!”

#

CREDENTIAL DISTRIBUTION: Credentials will be distributed at the
“Old MGM Grand Garden Arena Box Office” located outside the MGM Grand Garden Arena porte-cochere (southeast corner of the building at street level). Hours of Operation are:
Monday, Oct. 28: Noon to 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 29 to Friday, Nov. 1: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
NOTE: On Wednesday, Oct. 30, the Old MGM Grand Garden Arena Box Office will not be open. Temporary credentials will be distributed from Studios A&B.
Saturday, Nov. 2: Noon to 6 p.m.

Canelo vs. Kovalev
is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title
presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate,
“THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy
“Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush,
Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN. The title clash is one of several highlights this fight season on DAZN – an entire fall featuring boxing’s biggest matchups in one of the best schedules in boxing history.

VIDEO: Canelo’s Media Workout

CANELO ALVAREZ SAN DIEGO MEDIA WORKOUT QUOTES,

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 23, 2019) – Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 34 KOs) hosted a media workout today at the House of Boxing in San Diego, Calif. ahead of his upcoming 12-round bout against Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs) for his WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. Trainers Eddy Reynoso and Jose “Chepo” Reynoso also attended the workout. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively as one of the most-anticipated events this fight season on DAZN.

Below are quotes from today’s workout:

CANELO ALVAREZ, WBC FRANCHISE, WBA, LINEAL AND RING MAGAZINE MIDDLEWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION AND WBA SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION:

“I feel good! This is the weight I’m usually at during my normal life so it’s natural for me. I’ve been eating well, lifting more weights because I normally don’t lift weights when I’m losing weight. I’ve been eating how I normally do, of course staying healthy, but adding more rice, protein and carbohydrates. I’m entering his zone of comfort but we’re ready for this. We have the intelligence and skill to beat Kovalev and win the fight. It’s going to be one of the most important fights for me and my career. This title is very important, to be a four-time world champion in different divisions. This is historic for my career. In boxing you have to take risks to make history and it’s a huge risk for my career but we’re ready. We feel that we have the necessary skills to win this fight! I’m going to utilize all my skills in the ring. A body punch is always necessary in every fight and it’s a key move that I’m obviously going to utilize to my advantage to win this fight. We know what he has and what this challenge represents. We know he has long arms, his jab is really strong, and he knows how to move, but we’ve trained for this. He’s my strongest opponent without a doubt and it’s a huge risk for me but we’re ready.”

JOSE “CHEPO” REYNOSO, TRAINER AND MANAGER OF CANELO ALVAREZ:

“We’re in a very optimistic mindset thanks to all the hard work we’ve done, all the preparation. We have confidence and optimism because we’ve done everything right. In the gym we have a saying, “What’s done well can’t turn out poorly.” This would be a great achievement for Saul to win this fight that very few in the history of boxing have done. For us, for Saul and for the team too since we’ve started together. Everyone needs to understand that we’ve been working together for 15 years and have come this far to now fight for this fourth title, together. We’re optimistic, happy and confident that we can take this fourth title. Canelo is a man of many risks and he always likes to take risks. I admire him for that. He knows the risk he’s taking but the prize for that risk will be huge. We know Kovalev’s style because we’ve seen him for years. We know he is strong and tall, but knowing this we accepted this fight because we know Saul can beat him.”

EDDY REYNOSO, HEAD TRAINER AND MANAGER OF CANELO ALVAREZ:

“We’re focused. We’ve been training for more than three months and have prepared very well. We haven’t had any setbacks with injuries or illnesses and we’re good. We’ve taken care of ourselves and we prepared well to be able to win this fight. Kovalev is a strong fighter and he has lots of good qualities. He’s made it this far in his career because of that. He has a good punch and has a lot of heart. We’ve seen some errors in his fighting style and we hope to capitalize on those mistakes the day of the fight. It’s very important for us and for Mexican boxing that new figures arise, or new records are being broken. Whether that’s Saul or someone else, I think it’s important for everyone that’s in the world of boxing.”

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN. The title clash is one of several highlights this fight season on DAZN – an entire fall featuring boxing’s biggest matchups in one of the best schedules in boxing history.

Tickets for Canelo vs. Kovalev are on sale and are priced at $1,754, $1,254, $854, $654, $404 and $204, not including applicable service charges and taxes. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.axs.com

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com,
www.MainEvents.com and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,
www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez,
https://www.facebook.com/thekrusher/,
https://www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxing and
https://www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

SERGEY ‘KRUSHER’ KOVALEV OXNARD MEDIA WORKOUT QUOTES

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 23, 2019) – Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs), hosted a media workout yesterday at the Boxing Laboratory in Oxnard, Calif. ahead of his upcoming 12-round bout against Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 34 KOs) for his WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events, also attended the workout, along with trainer Buddy McGirt. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively as one of the most-anticipated events this fight season on DAZN.

Below are quotes from yesterday’s workout:

SERGEY “KRUSHER” KOVALEV, WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion:

“Canelo has nothing to lose in this fight. He has a chance to make history. But I have to defend my title. This is the biggest fight of my career. I’ve never been in this situation, where someone is coming from middleweight. I’m not going to make a prediction, but I am going to go in there and defend my title.”

“I think Canelo will be just as strong at light heavyweight. I think he will weigh the same as me, 175 pounds. He will be heavier than usual, but I think he will be comfortable. When you lose weight for a fight, you lose power and stamina, and he won’t have to do that.”

“My preparation has been well. We have a great camp with Buddy McGirt. I had a short rest since my last fight. But I think that’s better. My body feels really good, and I’m ready for this fight. This fight will be very interesting. It has a worldwide intrigue. I can’t wait.”

BUDDY MCGIRT, Trainer of Sergey Kovalev:

“Everything has been great, thank God. I can’t complain. The training is running on time. Camp has been great because we haven’t been looking at Canelo like the smaller guy. We’re not looking to go into this fight as the bigger, stronger guy. We’re looking to go in there as the better and smarter fighter.”

“People have been asking about Canelo’s body attack. But nobody likes getting hit to the body. I don’t care who you are. But the thing is this: What’s going to happen when Canelo gets hit to the body? Guys that like to go to the body, don’t like it when you to go to their body.”

KATHY DUVA, CEO of Main Events:

“This is one of the most intriguing fights I’ve ever seen, let alone made. You have a guy in Canelo who is a great body puncher, and maybe that plays into Sergey’s Achille’s heel, shall we say. In Sergey, you have someone with the hardest and most accurate jab in the sport. I’ve seen that be a problem for Canelo as well. They both have a strength that will play into the other guy’s vulnerability. They’re both very smart. They’re both great fighters, and they both want to test themselves.”

“You don’t get fights like this that often. I’ve been doing this for over 40 years, and you just don’t get that many fights where it’s just two people testing each other to find out who is best. It’s wonderful.”

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight
World Title presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN. The title clash is one of several highlights this fight season on DAZN – an entire fall featuring boxing’s biggest matchups in one of the best schedules in boxing history.

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com,
www.MainEvents.com and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,
www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez,
https://www.facebook.com/thekrusher/,
https://www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxing and
https://www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

Canelo Alvarez and Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev’s Battle for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title Live in U.S. Movie Theaters on November 2

DENVER – October 23, 2019 – On Saturday, November 2, Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 34 KOs) will take on a new challenge as he moves into the 175-pound weight class in a 12-round fight against Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs) for Kovalev’s WBO Light Heavyweight World Title.This highly anticipated bout and its co-featured fights will be broadcast live from MGM Grand in Las Vegasto big screens across the nation.A full undercard will be shown prior to the main event.

Tickets for “Canelo Alvarez vs Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev” can be purchased online at www.FathomEvents.comor at participating theater box offices now.

The live broadcast of “Canelo Alvarez vs Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev” presented by Fathom Events, Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions is set for Saturday, November 2 beginning at beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 8:00 p.m. CT/ 7:00 p.m. MT/ 6:00 p.m. PT/ 5:00 p.m. AK/ 4:00 p.m. HI. Boxing fans throughout the U.S. can watch the event in more than 500 select movie theaters through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). A complete list of theater locations is available on the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

Canelo, the 29-year-old native of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, became the face of boxing by taking on some of the biggest names in the sport. At 154 pounds, Canelo captured several world titles and defeated the likes of Austin “No Doubt” Trout, Sugar Shane Mosley, Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo, Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara and Liam “Beefy” Smith. At 160 pounds, Canelo defeated Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs to establish himself as the king of the middleweight division. In the 168-pound division, Canelo became the WBA Super Middleweight World Champion by stopping Rocky Fielding in three rounds.

Canelo will now look to make history again by becoming the second Mexican boxer to hold a world title in the light heavyweight division. The pound-for-pound king will at the same time join an elite group of four-division world champions from Mexico.

On November 2, Kovalev (36) will participate in his 17thconsecutive world title bout and the most lucrative fight of his career against the biggest star in boxing. A Russian knockout artist and Three-Time Light Heavyweight World Champion, “Krusher” is no stranger to fighting in hostile territory. He captured the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title in 2013 when he traveled to Wales and scored a stunning knockout of Nathan Cleverly. Kovalev traveled to Atlantic City to meet future Hall of Famer Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins to unify the WBO, WBA and IBF titles with a lopsided unanimous decision victory in 2014. As unified champion, “Krusher” successfully defended his titles twice against current WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal in Montreal, scoring a stoppage victory both times.

In August of this year, Kovalev finally got the chance to fight in his own hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, stopping undefeated mandatory challenger Anthony Yarde in front of a sold-out crowd.

“We are proud to partner again with Golden Boy to bring boxing’s biggest star, Canelo Alvarez back to cinemas nationwide,” said Ray Nutt, Fathom Events CEO. “Fight fans will want to see all the action up on the big screen as Canelo takes on Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev.”

The undercard for this event will feature a full night of action. Rising superstar Ryan Garcia (18-0, 15 KOs) of Victorville, Calif. will face “Ruthless” Romero Duno (21-1, 16 KOs) of Cotabato City, Philippines in the 12-round co-main event..

Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (12-0-1, 8 KOs), a fan-favorite native of Philadelphia, will fight for the vacant NABF Welterweight Title against Carlos Ortiz (11-4, 11 KOs) of Torreon, Mexico.

For artwork/photos related to “Canelo Alvarez vs Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev” visit the Fathom Events press site.

About Fathom Events
Fathom Events is the leading event cinema distributor with theater locations in all top 100 DMAs® (Designated Market Areas) and ranks as one of the largest overall theater content distributors. Owned by AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: AMC); Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK); and Regal Cinemas, a subsidiary of the Cineworld Group (LSE: CINE.L), Fathom Events offers a variety of unique entertainment events in movie theaters such as live performances of the Metropolitan Opera, top Broadway stage productions, major sporting events, epic concerts, the yearlong TCM Big Screen Classics series, inspirational events and popular anime franchises. Fathom Events takes audiences behind the scenes for unique extras including audience Q&As, backstage footage and interviews with cast and crew, creating the ultimate VIP experience. Fathom Events’ live Digital Broadcast Network (“DBN”) is the largest cinema broadcast network in North America, bringing live and pre-recorded events to 1,010 locations and 1,628 screens in 182 DMAs. The company also provides corporations a compelling national footprint for hosting employee meetings, customer rewards events and new product launches. For more information, visit www.FathomEvents.com.

About Golden Boy:
Los Angeles-based Golden Boy was established in 2002 by Oscar De La Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a national boxing promotional company. Golden Boy is a media and entertainment brand committed to making fighting entertainment more accessible and affordable. The company’s in-house production team develops creative original programming for ESPN, RingTV.com and international channels across the globe. The company holds the exclusive rights to top boxers and has promoted some of the biggest and highest grossing events in the history of the sport. Now, Golden Boy is one of the most successful boxing entertainment companies in the world and shapes the future of boxing for fighters and fans alike through its 2019 partnership with streaming platform, DAZN.

Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev International Media Conference Call Transcript

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 16, 2019) – Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs), hosted an international media conference call yesterday to discuss his upcoming 12-round bout against Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 34 KOs) for Kovalev’s WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events, also participated on the call, along with trainer Buddy McGirt. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively, as one of the most-anticipated events this fight season on DAZN.

Below is a transcript of the call:

KATHY DUVA: Welcome, everyone. We’re here to discuss the upcoming historic fight between Canelo Alvarez and Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev for Sergey’s WBO Light Heavyweight Title which will take place November 2nd, 2019 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Tickets are on sale now through axs.com.

The fight will be streamed on DAZN. The DAZN live bouts will involve Ryan Garcia versus ‘Ruthless’ Romero Duno to unify the vacant WBC Lightweight Title, with the NABO Lightweight Title.

Bakhram Murtazaliev will take on Jorge Fortea for an IBF Junior Middleweight Eliminator.

Seniesa “Superbad” Estrada will take on Marlen Esparza for the vacant Interim WBA Women’s Flyweight Title.

On the undercard, Evan Holyfield will make his professional debut against Nick Winstead.

Meiirim Nursultanov will take on Cristian Olivas in a ten-round middleweight battle for the WBC USNBC Middleweight Title.

Blair “The Flair” Cobbs will take on Carlos Ortiz for the vacant NABF Welterweight Title, Uzbeck prospect Becktmir Melikuziev (2-0, 2 KOs) will compete in a super middleweight bout, and rising 17-year-old prospect Tristan Kalkreuth, 2-0, of Duncanville, Texas, will return in a four-round cruiserweight fight.

BUDDY MCGIRT: Listen, I’m excited about the fight. I just think that they picked the wrong veteran to mess with when they picked Sergey. They should have found somebody else. The world will see on November 2nd that Sergey Kovalev is the real deal.

SERGEY KOVALEV: Hello, everybody. I want to say that I’m really excited about my next fight with Canelo Alvarez. I must show the world that I deserve to be the best in light heavyweight division.

This is huge goal in my boxing career from when I was a young guy. Canelo is really talented and really famous, so this is a lot of pressure to me, but believe me, I’m in boxing already since I was 11 years old and I should be fine. It’s nothing for me. I should just get inside the ring and do my best job.

I’m really happy that I’m still in the business on the top level of boxing. I can’t wait for November 2nd. Thank you.

KATHY DUVA: And I think I can amplify his comments only to say that I had a conversation with a Russian reporter the other day who has known Sergey, and he mentioned that Sergey, since this past summer, has changed. He’s different. What’s changed? What’s different? I don’t understand it. It’s clearly the introduction of this fantastic team. Buddy McGirt being, if not the best, one of the best trainers in the sport, and Teddy Cruz, his physical trainer. Both made a huge impact.

I think Sergey’s resurgence is a tribute to not only their efforts, but Sergey being a real champion showing what real champions do.

SERGEY KOVALEV: I want to say one more thing that right now I have a great team with great coaches – Buddy McGirt and Teddy Cruz – and right now I’m feeling really comfortable with my team. In our team I have good emotions, and right now all of us follow our dream and get victory over Canelo.

KATHY DUVA: Thank you. It really does show, speaking as a member of that team.

Q. Sergey just fought in August against Yarde, and, relatively speaking, it was a quick turnaround, particularly for a veteran fighter. I wonder if there were any accommodations that made for that fact as you train for this fight? Anything you had to change because of the quick turnaround?

BUDDY MCGIRT: All I can say is the only thing we had to change is not having to come to camp full force because he was already in shape. We just took it day-by-day, nice and easy, nice and slow. We didn’t have to get in shape like we normally do. Didn’t have to lose weight like normal. I think it’s a blessing that it was a quick turnaround.

SERGEY KOVALEV: Yes, yes. For me yes, it’s not enough rest between the fight, but I really like that I fight often, with a short rest. I don’t like four, five months or more than four months rest. This is killing me. I am getting lazy. I am getting busy with my family.

But now just a small rest, like three weeks, three to four weeks, and I’m ready. I’m back again to training camp. Now it’s really, really good under control with Buddy McGirt and Teddy Cruz. Right now, I’m feeling good.

Q. Just to make clear, you like the fact that there was a short turnaround as opposed to a much longer layoff?

SERGEY KOVALEV: I like it, yes. I like short rest between the fights. One month enough, you know.

Q. Just how surprised were you that a middleweight like Canelo Alvarez called your name? Because Oscar De La Hoya, his promoter, and Canelo, have said your name several times I think even before the Daniel Jacobs fight, that this would be a fight they would be interested in. I think a lot of the fans and reporters were like, ‘he can’t really be serious about that.’ But he did call your name and now you’re fighting him. How surprised were you compared to many others that thought this was not really a fight he was serious about?

SERGEY KOVALEV: I respect Canelo because he goes right now up two divisions, and this is a huge goal for him and also for myself. Canelo wants to try get title in light heavyweight division, and if he will not get the title nobody will say, ‘Eh you lose.’ He has nothing to lose. He is just trying.

But I should defend my title. I will defend my title. If I lose, I lose more than Canelo lose. Canelo, he is trying to make his history but I’m here. I’m in my position.

Q. You mentioned that he wants to make history, which he would if he is able to capture this belt. I know you don’t know the answer because I don’t think you’ve had the conversation, but what is your feeling? He took and called you for this fight because he genuinely wants to make the history, or he sees you as a big name who’s vulnerable, but also somebody that his broadcaster would accept other than the third GGG fight?

SERGEY KOVALEV: I don’t think that he is avoiding the fight against GGG, but he now wants to make history. He wants to face me because I am the best in the light heavyweight division.

His fights against GGG what happen, will happen. It doesn’t matter. Canelo win the fight November 2nd or not. I think he just want to try to make history.

But we will see on November 2nd. Like I will be in the ring and we will be ready for everything what he will bring.

Q. You’ve had so many big wins in your career. I’m thinking about Bernard Hopkins, the two fights against Jean Pascal, the revenge match against Storm Alvarez. In all the fights you’ve had – when you went overseas and won the title against Cleverly – would a victory against Canelo, even though he’s a smaller fighter, but because he’s such a huge name, would you think in the later stages of your career if you win this would be the biggest win of your career? I would like Kathy’s opinion on this also.

SERGEY KOVALEV: You know, if Canelo go to 175 division, that means that his body is ready. Yes, he is a shorter height, but his weight will be on fight day more than 175, I’m sure.

Maybe he no longer like losing the weight, because he’s tired long time, long boxing career, still losing the weight. But I know he would like fighting with a full stomach. (Laughter.)

Q. Would you consider it your biggest win?

SERGEY KOVALEV: Yeah, it’s going to be my biggest win. Yes, of course. This is the biggest name I fought after Bernard Hopkins.

Q. Kathy? You promoted all those big fights.

KATHY DUVA: Yeah, I think Sergey said it exactly right. He’s the biggest most marketable name on his record, and that, in the eyes of fans, makes it the biggest, of course.

Q. How is it working with Buddy McGirt and what does he bring to the table?

SERGEY KOVALEV: I’m really happy that I found this coach. I met with Buddy long time ago. I came in U.S. in 2009 and I met with Buddy 2011 or 2012 at some boxing fight, but I never thought that Buddy can be my coach. But right now, everything has happened for a reason, and I started working with Buddy McGirt and Teddy Cruz and I’m really happy.

I really like to work with them. We will see what will be on November 2nd, but I’m sure that this will be the great fight.

Q. Did he teach you more than you already knew?

SERGEY KOVALEV: Buddy gives me everything right – that I lost after losing control of the trainings. All my titles that I had, three title before my first loss and I had used all my amateur experience to get those titles. But then I would have big rest between the fights, and I lost all my technique, because I didn’t have good coach in my training camp. Nobody controlled me. Nobody give me instruction what I should to do. I did everything by myself.

When I lost the fight, I get to work, then another fight, another fight. I started looking for the right coach who can help me, and I found Buddy McGirt.

Q. Sergey, this is a question about your motivation in the fight and what the fight means to you. You’re 36 and closer to the end of your career than the beginning. You also stand to make a career-high payday in this fight. A lot of people said you’ve already won simply by signing the contract. The question is: What would a win in this fight mean to you? How motivated are you to come away with a win on November 2nd?

SERGEY KOVALEV: I am really motivated for my future boxing career. I would like two more great years. I can fight easy, because right now I have a great team and great coaches like Buddy McGirt and Teddy Cruz who really help me.

Right now, really big motivation to get victory over Canelo, because after this victory there are more opportunities that will be in front of me.

Q. Same question to Buddy. If you can talk about the energy in the camp and what a win would mean for you and your team, if you guys come out on top.

BUDDY MCGIRT: Well, the camp is great because everybody gets along. Everybody trusts everybody. We have a relaxed mood and we know what we have to do, so it makes for a good camp.

As far as if we win, the statement should be when we win, because I believe in my heart that Sergey is going to win this. It’s not going to be as hard as people think.

As far as myself, it’s not about me right now. It’s about Sergey making history. It’s not about me. It’s about Sergey.

Q. Buddy, how open is Sergey to different styles, strategies? How coachable is he? I know you worked with Arturo Gatti, are you going to do the same thing with Sergey Kovalev?

BUDDY McGIRT: Sometimes when we’re in the gym Sergey comes to me with ideas, and they make sense. Like he said earlier, he got away from what he did best in the amateurs. He showed me a video of the amateurs and I’m like, ‘What happened to this guy?’

He goes, ‘Well, when I started knocking people, I got away from it.’ I’m like, ‘We’ve got to get back to this.’ He goes, ‘But I’m the Krusher.’ I said, ‘Well, now you’re going to be Smart Krusher.’

That’s what I say, people underestimate his boxing IQ because he’s always knocked everybody out. He’s smarter than people give him credit for.

Q. Is he open to different strategies in case his forward pressure and his professional style that he adopted…

BUDDY McGIRT: Oh, yeah. We discuss it. If he feels something, he’ll let me know when we get to the gym, and if I feel something, I let him know. We’re on the same page at all times.

Q. How is it for you to be the underdog, a decided underdog in this fight? That hasn’t been the case yet in your career where your opponent is viewed as big favorite. Does that motivate you? Paid any attention to that?

SERGEY KOVALEV: I don’t worry about if I’m the underdog or not. I just feel like we will be in the same ring, and everybody will be in the same position one-on-one, one against one.

The end will show who’s the best. Canelo is a very talented boxer and really experienced. And believe me, I’m right now getting really good instruction from my team and very good training camp. Everything goes very well.

We will show to the boxing world that Krusher is here. Krusher is back.

Q. Canelo obviously has a history in Las Vegas of winning close decisions or certainly getting the benefit of the doubt on scorecards more often than not. Does that make you feel any pressure to have to beat him by knockout, or are you okay with the fight going the distance? You’ve also lost a very close decision in Las Vegas yourself.

SERGEY KOVALEV: I will follow nstructions from Buddy McGirt, what’s the plan? The plan will begin after the first round. Every minute I will follow his instruction after each round what he will be saying to me.

Q. So, you don’t feel like you need to knock him out to win the fight I guess is my question?

SERGEY KOVALEV: Yes, but that’s not my goal. My goal to get the victory, by any costs. By knockout is very well, yes, of course.

Q. Obviously there is another very meaningful light heavyweight title fight on Friday. Wondering your thoughts on the Beterbiev-Gvozdyk fight and of course I would assume you would like to fight the winner if you beat Canelo, correct?

SERGEY KOVALEV: Of course. I should beat Canelo, and the next fight I will be open for unification fight. Right now, I have a concentration and focus on Canelo fight.

I will watch this fight for sure this Friday, and we’ll see who’s the best of these two guys. I think like one of those guys will get victory. (Laughter.) Not like a draw. Somebody will win.

Q. When Canelo Alvarez spoke to us on his call last week, he was asked about his body attack. He’s a tremendous body puncher, and you have shown that you have had some problems when guys attack you to the body. He said that will be a big part of what he plans to do in the fight. How do you make sure that doesn’t become a factor in the fight? I’d like your opinion and Buddy’s since you have to come up with a game plan to defend against the body shots.Buddy, do you have any thoughts about that particular part of Canelo Alvarez’s game plan?

BUDDY MCGIRT: I mean, it’s obvious that’s his game plan, because that’s one of his biggest tools, is body punching. And for the record, nobody likes to get hit in the body. I don’t give a shit who you are.

What we did was we ordered these XXXL shorts for Sergey and we are going to pull the shorts up to his chest and then we’ll be okay. (Laughter.)

The question is what’s going to happen when Canelo gets hit to the body?

Q. Sergey has shown in the Yarde fight as well as many other fights in his career, he has a superb jab. It’s very heavy. It’s very much like a power shot as opposed to a jab. How significant do you believe that Sergey’s jab is going to be in the fight against Canelo?

BUDDY MCGIRT: Well, the main thing is to avoid those type of instances where we get in there and let Canelo feel comfortable. No matter what he tries to do, the key is to make him uncomfortable in anything that he tries to do.
That only happened to him one time, and that was in the Mayweather fight. Mayweather made him uncomfortable and he really couldn’t get in his groove. After that, he became a better fighter and he was able to dominate everybody.

Q. The jab is such a big punch for Sergey; it does so much damage. Just wondered how much emphasis is there for you in the camp to make sure he shoots that down the middle against a smaller guy who has probably never been hit with a shot like that from a guy as big as Sergey Kovalev?

BUDDY MCGIRT: Funny thing is since the Alvarez rematch I’ve never had to remind Sergey again about the jab.

Q. Very good. Sergey, maybe you could address that. How important is it to have a heavy jab against Canelo Alvarez?

SERGEY KOVALEV: I never punch really hard my jab. I just do my jab; that’s it. It’s hard because I have like heavy bones maybe. I don’t know. But I not make it hard like that by myself.

Q. I mean, your last win was with a jab.
SERGEY KOVALEV: Yes, it was by jab. I don’t know. But I didn’t punch really hard. Maybe in the fight against Canelo I will make it more harder and we’ll see. Just fight will show everything, who’s the best.

Q. Sergey, you have bounced back now from some losses and are facing a very big fight. Do you think because of the journey you’ve had you appreciate this opportunity more now than you would have ten years ago? You think you have a different mental approach to it?

SERGEY KOVALEV: Ten years ago, I was younger and didn’t have enough experience. But now I’m ten years older and more experienced. Ten years ago, I came in U.S. with the amateur experience only. Now, I’m getting day-by-day, fight-by-fight, professional experience with Buddy McGirt and Teddy Cruz.

I’m really excited to work with this team, and thanks to God that everything’s happen for a reason. I’m happy.

Q. Do you think you’re ten years wiser also? Is that just as important?

SERGEY KOVALEV: Yes, yes. Now I am more smarter, yes, right.

Q. And Kathy, do you think this is an important factor – you’ve seen Sergey a long time – in his road to getting here, that he is wiser, and his attitude reflects an approach that’s going to serve him well now?

KATHY DUVA: I think that as the journey he has been through, as painful as it was, from time-to-time, as we all experience life, the pain is the thing that teaches us. It’s the painful times that make us better in the long run. It’s the hard knocks that make us more careful about what we say and do and think.

I think that’s everybody’s life experiences. Sergey has had some real obstacles in his way in recent years, and as painful as it was, as Sergey keeps saying, things happen for a reason. This is what led him to this particular team at this point in time in his corner. I think that it has all worked out exactly as well as it possibly could.

Now he will go into this fight knowing he has every chance that he could possibly have to win and feeling good about it. As he keeps saying, I’m happy, I’m happy. That’s what is showing. That’s what I’m seeing. I’m seeing the smile on his face that I saw leading up to the Cleverly fight. I hadn’t seen it in a long time.

It’s been a pleasure to watch this and be able to be in such a significant fight at this stage in his career is the reward for all of the work he’s done and all he’s been through to get there.

Q. In the negotiations for this, I know Sergey was unhappy with Vegas. I mean, I know this is a big fight and probably had to take it anywhere. Was there any talk about going anywhere other than Las Vegas?

KATHY DUVA: As a dynamic of this negotiation, just made that impossible. We got the fight we wanted; we got the money we wanted. The way to get that money is to go to a place where you can generate it. We’re realists. We asked, as always, for judges who will be fair. We hope that the commission recognizes that we don’t want the names of the judges or the referee to be the story.

We’re going to be where the crowd is going to be very much pro-Canelo. We know that happens. We know judges are influenced by those crowds, and I can talk a lot simply to that.

But what Sergey needs to do is fight like the veteran that he is. He needs to win and dominate round by round. He needs to not go in there head hunting trying to get a knockout. He knows that now.

Again, the experience he’s had has informed that. If you look at the scoring in the first six rounds of the first Ward fight, he was ahead. Clearly.

He let Ward back in the fight. He got tired and we’ve addressed those issues with this new training situation. I don’t think that’s an issue anymore.

He needs to get out there and win and dominate, just as he did with Alvarez the second time and frankly as he did with Yarde. We went and re-watched the fight, there was about 20 seconds during one round in which he was having a little bit of a hard time.

But he dominated that fight, and that’s what he needs to do.

Q. Sergey, obviously Canelo is looking to do something not many people have even attempted moving up two weight classes. Do you feel like you, as the champion and someone who has fought in light heavyweight far longer than Canelo is more confident in knowing that you are the bigger guy against the smaller guy in Canelo going to be making his light heavyweight debut?

SERGEY KOVALEV: Every fight for me is very important, but this fight is the most important because there is now a guy who makes the move like two divisions and want to beat me, to get my title.

This is very important for me, more important to defend my title, because like now he is a guest in my division. My plans are different, and after the fight with Canelo I will follow for my dream.

With this fight very good for boxing fans. I’m ready. I’ll be ready with my team to defend my WBO Title.

Q. The fight against Anthony Yarde back in August, after the fight, did you immediately think that physically you were ready already to face Canelo Alvarez? Did you need to take maybe a few days to sort of think about it and decide whether or not you were ready to face, or not ready to face, but at least hoping you’re physically ready enough to face Canelo on such a quick turnaround?

SERGEY KOVALEV: I have great coach now and I believe them what they tell me. Teddy Cruz and Buddy McGirt is the best coaches in the world and I believe them 100%.

I think they can really help in the fight against Canelo.

Q. Kathy, obviously this has been a fight that’s been in the works for sure several months. What sort of change in those initial pre-Yarde negotiations versus now that sort of allowed the fight to come together? Almost fairly quickly after the Anthony Yarde fight, was it the fact that Sergey really needed to get that mandatory out of the way and that kind of drove a wedge in the negotiations?

KATHY DUVA: Yes, prior to the Yarde fight, early on we weren’t getting the kind of offers we needed to make the fight. By the time the offer came we were just too far down road with Yarde. As Sergey made very clear at the time, he felt an obligation to go and fight in his hometown. He didn’t want local fans to think he would turn his back on them just because he was offered a lot of money. We had already gotten through that, the biggest issue, which was the money.

Just a week after that to get Golden Boy back to where they were in the summer. There was a lot less to talk about the second time around, and so it came together a lot more easily. And we didn’t have the obstacles of having to fight the mandatory.

Thank you everyone, as always, for your interest. I think boxing thrives when we have these big fights. This is one of those nights when you can call your casual friends to make sure they watch because it is going to be a great one.

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN. The title clash is one of several highlights this fight season on DAZN – an entire fall featuring boxing’s biggest matchups in one of the best schedules in boxing history.

Tickets for Canelo vs. Kovalev are on sale and are priced at $1,754, $1,254, $854, $654, $404 and $204, not including applicable service charges and taxes. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.axs.com.

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.MainEvents.com and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,
www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez, www.facebook.com/thekrusher/, www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxing and www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloKovalev to a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy or Main Events where applicable for any photo and/or video usage.

CANELO ALVAREZ INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 10, 2019) – Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 34 KOs), the face of boxing and the king of the middleweight division, hosted an international media conference call today to discuss his upcoming 12-round bout against champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 28 KOs) for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy, participated on the call, along with trainers Eddy Reynoso and Jose “Chepo” Reynoso. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively as one of the most anticipated events this fight season on DAZN.

Below is what today’s participants had to say on the call:

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Hello, and thank you for dialing into the Canelo Alvarez media call. On November 2, Canelo Alvarez will look to make history as he moves up two weight classes, challenging Sergey “Crusher” Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight world title. Keep in mind that Sergey Kovalev has a record of 34-3 with 29 knockouts, so obviously this is a very, very difficult and tough challenge, but that’s exactly who Canelo is, a guy who challenges the very best and will always do so.

Tickets are still on sale and selling fast, so we’re really excited about that, and this historical fight will take place exclusively live on DAZN, the sports streaming platform that has changed the way consumers enjoy combat sports. We want to thank DAZN for providing us at Golden Boy with the best platform in boxing.

We are also happy to announce that our sponsors for a long time for many years are Tecate, the official beer of boxing, and Hennessy, never stop, never settle, and the brand new Grapefruit Crush Knockout flavor.

We will now open it up for questions, and I am also happy to announce that Ryan Garcia, who is the up-and-coming superstar in boxing, will also be participating in the co-main event, and he is also trained by the great trainer for many years now, who also trains Canelo Alvarez, to say a few words, the Trainer of the Year who has a stable of fighters who is growing, that is Eddy Reynoso. Eddy?

EDDY REYNOSO: Obviously I’m very happy that we’re all on the call, and I’m ready. I’m preparing Canelo Alvarez to be the best he can on November 2nd.

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Also it’s my pleasure to introduce another man who is on Alvarez’ team and in his corner. He’s been there forever for the longest time, and that is Jose “Chepo” Reynoso.

JOSE “CHEPO” REYNOSO: (Answer not translated).

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Now it is my pleasure to introduce to you a young man who has continued to make history in the sport of boxing, has continued to prove that he is the very best, not only in the division but in boxing in general in the world. Every single fight that he takes, every challenge that he has, he’s always been up against the very best, and obviously you take a look at his career and he’s only getting better, and that’s a testament to his great trainers, to his managers and to himself. The hard work, the discipline, the dedication that he puts into his work has gotten him to the top to be the very best. So it is my pleasure to introduce to you the current WBC franchise world champion, WBA lineal and Ring Magazine’s middleweight world champion, and he is currently the WBA super middleweight champion. With a record of 52 wins, one loss, 35 knockouts, I’ll introduce you to Canelo Alvarez.

CANELO ALVAREZ: Hi, how is everyone. Thanks for the support. As always, I want to thank the media. I want to thank everyone for their support. I’m training 100 percent. This is going to be a big challenge that we have in front of us, and we’re happy to take it with a lot of responsibility and a lot of discipline. Thank you.

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Okay, we will open it up for questions now.

Q. Canelo, I wondered if you could just speak to your decision-making process to decide that it was Sergey Kovalev that you wanted to fight and that you wanted to go up two weight divisions. I know you fought at middleweight against Fielding, but you really have been a middleweight. What was the thought process for selecting Kovalev, and what was the drive to do that?

CANELO ALVAREZ: Obviously I spoke with my team. We talked with my team, with Eddy more than anything. He wanted that fight. He wanted to get a fourth title against one of the best fighters in that division, and we wanted to make history in boxing and leave a big legacy, so it looked like a good idea. It’s a risk that we’re taking, but that’s boxing.

Q. Canelo, the weight limit is 175 pounds, but I wonder — I was thinking about when Manny Pacquiao, for example, fought for the junior middleweight title against Margarito. He didn’t come close to being 154 pounds. He weighed in around 144, 145 pounds. Do you anticipate when you fight Sergey that you’ll be all the way at 175, or do you think you’ll be a little bit smaller than that and just be natural at whatever weight you come in at? Where do you expect to weigh on fight night or at the weigh-in?

CANELO ALVAREZ: I will be on weight at 175 pounds. That’s what I’m going to weigh, 175 pounds. God willing, that’s what we’re working on.

Q. Can you speak about the particulars that you’re doing in your training to put on that kind of weight properly? You looked in tremendous condition in your most recent fight, but now you’re going to be going up even more weight. What kinds of things are you doing? Maybe Eddy could speak to that, also, as the trainer, what you’re doing to put that weight on the right way.

CANELO ALVAREZ: That’s what I’m doing, I’m lifting more weights. I hadn’t lifted that much previously. A lot of reps but not that much weight, so I’m lifting more weights, eating more carbs, eating protein, and that’s what we’re doing to make weight.

EDDY REYNOSO: That’s what we’ve been doing in the gym, as well, lifting more weights. We also have to keep in mind the nutrition, eating more carbs, obviously, and then doing sparring with fighters who are taller and stronger, and so far things have been going well. There have been no injuries, no setbacks, and hopefully we become four-division world champion.

Q. Oscar, I wondered if you could give me, as a guy when you were a professional fighter before you were a promoter, you went through six different weight classes and won world titles in those different weight divisions. Can you give me your perspective what Canelo is trying to do by moving up two weight divisions in this case to fight probably the most recognized light heavyweight out there?

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Well, he’s doing it to make history, I believe. Fighters move up in weight class to make history and to separate themselves from ordinary fighters. Two weight classes is not an easy task, but when did Canelo ever take easy tasks? And obviously that’s very admirable because nobody in boxing does it today. Fighters sometimes take the easy road out, and Canelo is taking this tough road.

Q. What does it say to you, then, Oscar, that he did not try to fight or make a big deal about getting Kovalev to do this fight at a catch weight, that he’s doing it at the 175-pound limit, not making him drain even one or two pounds to come down lower than that weight division?

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: It shows who he is. It shows his character. It shows what he wants to accomplish in the sport, and that’s to make history and to one day be considered the best in the business.

Q. Did you try to convince him to ask for a catch weight?

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: No, not at all.

Q. What do you think in the sense of boxing terms is the biggest challenge that Kovalev will present, and what does it mean to have a young fighter like Ryan GarcÃa part of your team? We want to know your perspective; what kind of advice would you give him?

CANELO ALVAREZ: Moving up two divisions against a world champion is a big challenge for me, worrying about a champion at light heavyweight. But I also think that it’s the most important fight of my career. That’s why we are doing this, to keep making history. That’s what I like. I like those challenges.

And the fact that Ryan is in our team, well, the truth is we like to support young fighters, fighters who really want to be someone in their life, and he’s a young man who trains really well and learns, as well.

Q. If you had a chance to respond to your detractors about the risks in moving up two divisions, what would you tell these people regarding their criticisms?

CANELO ALVAREZ: The truth is with the critics who aren’t with me, who are always going to talk about anything I do, I have nothing to respond to them with. I’ll never make them happy. I don’t try to, and I don’t hope to.

Q. We’ve always talked about making history, capturing titles, but before this fight did you ever think that you would be moving up to 175 pounds? Or is this something that you just decided after your last fight?

CANELO ALVAREZ: We decided that after the last fight. Obviously we had thought about it before the fight with Jacobs because media asked, they asked if it was possible to be moving up to 175 pounds, and it didn’t sound bad, and then we started to think about it. But first, of course, we had to pass the first challenge, which was against Jacobs, and then we decided to move up in weight.

Q. Did you get a chance to see the Kovalev fight in Russia against Yarde?

CANELO ALVAREZ: No, he’s a great fighter, and he’s taking a big risk to be moving up two weight divisions, but we believe in ourselves. We believe in our capabilities to win the world title, and we do this with the conviction that we have the tools to accomplish this.

Q. The goal obviously right now is to win this title at 175 pounds, though obviously also you have titles at 160 pounds and 168 pounds. Have there been discussions about what weight you will fight in after this fight, irrespective of the result of this upcoming fight?

CANELO ALVAREZ: No, the truth is, no, we are focused on 100 percent on this fight. Afterward we’ll see what follows. We are 100 percent focused on this fight, and we’ll have to see what comes after.

Q. Canelo, over the years you’ve mentioned that your goal is to represent Mexico in accomplishing as many titles as you can obtain. At this point you have a big task in front of you on November 2 against Kovalev by going up those two weight classes. Looking ahead, would you see yourself chasing another title in another weight class, or would you focus, as well, on perhaps another big name, for example, in Andre Ward, if he were to come out of retirement to fight you?

CANELO ALVAREZ: You know, right now to move yet to another division would be a lot. We can’t exaggerate. It would be too much moving to another division, but I’m looking for challengers. I keep looking to make history. That’s how I would characterize myself as the kind of fighter that tries to make history.

Q. I saw a video recently of you speaking with Ryan GarcÃa, and it was really fun to see you doing something outside of your norm and you guys joking around. I wanted to know, do you think at this point in your career you are that crossover star that you want to be, and if you don’t, what do you think that you need to do to become that crossover star? Do you think that you have to change your personality? What are your thoughts on that and your appeal to the world and sporting universe?

CANELO ALVAREZ: My only advice would be to tell him to focus well on what you do, to be 100 percent dedicated. Don’t get off track. Keep in mind where you are and where you want to go. More than that, that’s the advice that I would tell him.

Q. Canelo, can you describe when you first met Kovalev back in 2013? I believe you were in camp in Big Bear preparing for the Mayweather fight. Did you ever think that you’d be facing him six years later?

CANELO ALVAREZ: I was training for the Mosley fight, if I’m not mistaken, but I would go there to train, and at the same time when I would get there, he would be leaving. We would greet each other. There was nothing in particular special, but that’s where we met, and that’s where we got to know each other. He was a four- to six-round fighter then, and then we saw that he was moving up. He was going to become champion, and we as a team really liked that, to see someone who was fighting at the four- to six-round level become the world champion. I mean, and one of the best, as well. So we really liked that as a team.

Q. Right now there’s no limits in your career. You’ve been keeping up with the challenges, starting at super welterweight, then the middleweight and beyond. Is there any peak or limit to you? Are you seeing the limits now, and what are the other challenges that you want to face?

CANELO ALVAREZ: The truth is no. For us there are no limits. We want to make history. We want to keep advancing. So there are no limits for us. We’re in a good moment in my career, so we have to take advantage of that.

Q. I wondered if you saw Triple G’s very tough fight that he had with Derevyanchenko this past Saturday night, and if so, what was your take on that performance?

CANELO ALVAREZ: We saw it. Obviously for me — Derevyanchenko won the fight. It was a fight where he really looked well. It was his fight. Regarding Triple G, we all know, everyone knows, it’s unnecessary to say more, but he looked slow, and I think I gave everyone the pathway to see how to hurt him, which is the body, and that’s what we saw.

Q. When the third fight between yourself and Triple G did not get made, you had said on multiple occasions that you felt like if he has a title I would fight him, but until he has a title I’m not going to fight him. You stuck to that; you’re obviously fighting Sergey Kovalev. Now Triple G has another middleweight title belt, and whatever happens November 2, you’re still going to be middleweight champion. He has the title now. Do you think that fight will happen in the future, the third fight? A lot of people want to see it.

CANELO ALVAREZ: Like I said before, and I’m going to repeat it again. I said it before the fight, and I’m going to repeat it. For me that fight presents no challenge to me right now. We fought two times, 24 rounds. I beat him, so he represents no challenge. However, what he does represent is some good business, so if they offer me something really good, maybe the third fight can happen. But for me, no, because he represents no challenge for me.

Q. Also, Canelo, were you at all disappointed that you watched as they fought for the IBF title that ultimately was stripped from you because you and your team for whatever reasons were unable to complete the deal with Derevyanchenko who was the mandatory challenger so they basically were fighting for your belt? Was there any kind of sadness in that situation that they have your belt now?

CANELO ALVAREZ: Yeah, that was it. That was the fight, but I didn’t think that. What happened is what happened. Unfortunately they took the title, but that’s what happened.

Q. One other question as it relates to the question you’re going to have with Sergey. One of the things about Sergey Kovalev that seems to be quite obvious is that it was apparent in his loss to Andre Ward, it seemed apparent in the fight against Yarde, he doesn’t take body shots all that well. That’s just being real. Canelo Alvarez is a fantastic body puncher. Is it fair to say that when you look at the video, you and Eddy and everybody and Chepo and do the strategy that you’re going to be in there trying to bang that body as much as possible? I don’t think you’d be giving away any secrets if you said that was the case.

CANELO ALVAREZ: Without a doubt. It’s one of the most important punches for any fighter, and not just in this fight, in all fights. But of course even more so with this fighter because that’s a weak point that he has, so we’re going to try to penetrate with the impact to the body.

Q. Canelo, I know you already explained in depth the steps you’ve taken to properly make 175. Is there anything about this training camp that was different or that you learned from when you fought Rocky Fielding and moving up in weight for that fight?

CANELO ALVAREZ: No, obviously this is a very different fight than the one against Fielding. He’s 175 pounds, which is heavier. It’s in a different division, and we know the challenge that we have in front of us, but we’re ready for it.

Q. You take a lot of pride in fighting on the Mexican holidays. You didn’t get to fight on Mexican Independence Day. I wanted to know if there’s going to be any type of a theme for fighting on Dia de los Muertos.

CANELO ALVAREZ: Obviously I’m going to fight, but on the Day of the Dead, DÃa de los Muertos, we’re going to be having a fight, and I plan to give a great fight to the ones who have left us, for family members who are no longer with us. It’s something that we really celebrate in Mexico.

Q. Because they’ve taken so long to get the Kovalev fight signed, there was a lot of reporting that said that DAZN really wanted the Gennady Golovkin fight and still wants it. I wondered if you felt pressure from DAZN during negotiations or if you think they should even have a say in your upcoming opponents. What are your thoughts on that?

CANELO ALVAREZ: More than any pressure, what was happening is the fight was getting complicated because there were other interests involved, but pressure on me, no. I always know what I want, and what I want is what I’m doing now. They may have wanted the Triple G fight, but as I said before, he represents no challenge for me, so I didn’t feel any pressure.

Q. The week after you fight Kovalev there’s a YouTube star fight, Logan Paul versus KSI. I wondered what you thought about that fight and a couple of amateurs fighting on a big — fighting in Staples Center that will sell out, probably, and hundreds of thousands will tune into. I wondered if that kind of fight was good for boxing or if it was just kind of silly, or just what you were thinking?

CANELO ALVAREZ: The truth is I have no opinion. I don’t even know the people which you speak of, so I have nothing bad to opine about this. The sun rises for everyone.

Q. I’ve heard from Eddy Reynoso that you’ve been training with bigger, stronger fighters. Have you noticed anything different in the strength of their punches compared to when you were training to fight 160 pounders, and is there any boxer that you admired when you were growing up who also moved up in divisions, who may have inspired you?

CANELO ALVAREZ: It’s normal. It’s normal for you to feel that when you’re sparring with bigger people. It’s logical. But we have felt really well, training and sparring with my sparring partners, and I really appreciate that because they’re helping me train, but it’s just a matter of getting used to it.

Sugar Ray Leonard, obviously, is one of the ones who I remembered who mostly moved up in divisions. I saw videos of him, watched the fights so that I could learn.

Q. You’re about less than a month away from making history. I wanted to know if this is something you visualized from when you were a young boy to be doing this.

CANELO ALVAREZ: I always imagined the magnitude of what I could accomplish so fast, and then I discovered more things. I learned more things, and I learned that there are even more things ahead of me that I can keep making history, and that’s what motivates me to keep going, keep making history.

Q. You clearly want to get the bigger challenges, the biggest names that you can. You explained that Triple G isn’t really a challenge at this point, but somebody that is a challenge is Demetrius Andrade. He’s obviously not the biggest name out there, but he probably presents the biggest challenge for you at middleweight. I don’t want to ask if you want to fight him, but is it more so attractive for you to fight guys who have bigger names as far as like a Triple G and a Kovalev as opposed to Andrade, even though Andrade might be the biggest challenge, that you would rather face the bigger names?

CANELO ALVAREZ: The truth is he hasn’t fought with anyone, hasn’t fought against anyone, and he’s also boring, very boring. Maybe he’s a good fighter, but he’s a boring fighter, and at the end of the day, when there’s a boring fight, people are going to blame me. I like fights where there’s action, where people can enjoy a good show. That’s very important for me. But also he doesn’t represent a challenge for me, as well, because he hasn’t fought against anybody.

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN. The title clash is one of several highlights this fight season on DAZN – an entire fall featuring boxing’s biggest matchups in one of the best schedules in boxing history.

Tickets for Canelo vs. Kovalev are on sale and are priced at $1,754, $1,254, $854, $654, $404 and $204, not including applicable service charges and taxes. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.axs.com

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.MainEvents.com
and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,
www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez, https://www.facebook.com/thekrusher/,
https://www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxing and
https://www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloKovalev to a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy or Main Events where applicable for any photo and/or video usage.

BLAIR “THE FLAIR” COBBS RETURNS TO THE RING NOVEMBER 2ND ON CANELO VS. KOVALEV CARD

LAS VEGAS, NV (October 10, 2019) – Prince Ranch Boxing’s undefeated welterweight contender, Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (12-0-1, 8 KOs), who is by promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, faces Carlos Ortiz (11-4, 11 KOs) of Torreon, Mexico, for the vacant NABF title. The 10-round bout will take place on November 2, 2019, as part of the undercard of Canelo Alvarez versus Sergey Kovalev at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, which will air live on DAZN.

“It is a great opportunity and one I’m going to take full advantage of,” said Blair Cobbs, who is managed by Greg Hannley of Prince Ranch Boxing. “I have worked very hard and I feel that fighting on a Canelo card, and for the NABF title, is the perfect chance for me to elevate my game, as well as put on a show for my fans.”

Cobbs, who is also advised by Shahid Malik, made noise earlier this year by defeating
Ferdinand “Lucky Boy” Kerobyan (12-1, 7 KOs), in Kerobyan’s hometown of Hollywood, California, and in his last bout stopped Steve “Manos de Oro” Villalobos (11-1, 1, 9 KOs) by way of a ninth-round knockout. Blair’s last three opponents had a combined record of (29-1-1, 22 KOs) making Cobbs one of the most battle-tested contenders in the welterweight division.

“We’re very excited with the way that Blair Cobbs has performed as a professional,” stated Greg Hannely, Cobbs manager. “He has defeated great opponents and is rising to the occasion each and every time he steps up in competition. A win in this bout will catapult him to a top-15 ranking. In addition, the exposure he will get fighting on this card will be unbelievable. Blair is a fan favorite, and everyone wants to see him fight.”

“I just want to put on a show and have fun like I always do,” Cobbs continued. “I am excited to show off my talent to a bigger audience. Blair “The Flair” is coming…Whooo!”

#

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN. The title clash is one of several highlights this fight season on DAZN – an entire fall featuring boxing’s biggest matchups in one of the best schedules in boxing history.

Tickets for Canelo vs. Kovalev are on sale and are priced at $1,754, $1,254, $854, $654, $404 and $204, not including applicable service charges and taxes. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.axs.com

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.MainEvents.com
and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,
www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez, https://www.facebook.com/thekrusher/,
https://www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxing and
https://www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloKovalev to a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy or Main Events where applicable for any photo and/or video usage.

RYAN GARCIA TO FACE ‘RUTHLESS’ ROMERO DUNO IN CO-MAIN EVENT OF CANELO VS. KOVALEV

LAS VEGAS (October 8, 2019) – The Canelo vs. Kovalev undercard will be brimming with action as it features the returns of Ryan Garcia, Bakhram Murtazaliev, Seniesa Estrada, Marlen Esparza and many others. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively as one of the most anticipated events this fight season on DAZN.

“We have put a lot of thought into this long-awaited night, and we’re eager to deliver one of the best undercards of the year,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy. “This event will feature some of our brightest talents taking on the toughest fights of their careers. With Ryan Garcia, we have a huge star in the making, but he’ll need to get past a tough, hard-hitting contender in Romero Duno to secure his path for a world title. We also have Seniesa Estrada and Marlen Esparza, who will look to final end their rivalry in a fight for the Interim WBA Flyweight Title. So, whether in person or live on DAZN, a new chapter in boxing’s history will unfold on November 2.”

As announced previously, rising superstar Ryan Garcia (18-0, 15 KOs) of Victorville, Calif. will look to unify the vacant WBC Silver Lightweight Championship with NABO Lightweight Champion “Ruthless” Romero Duno (21-1, 16 KOs) of Cotabato City, Philippines in the 12-round co-main event to Canelo vs. Kovalev. This will be a fight between two of the hardest-hitting lightweights in the Golden Boy stable.

“This is a big moment for me,” said Ryan Garcia. “These opportunities don’t come often. It’s my chance to show what I’m capable of on the biggest stage in boxing. I’m not going to let this opportunity slip. I’m fighting against Romero Duno, the opponent I wanted since the beginning, so I’m going show that I’ve reached another level on Nov. 2.”

“This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for,” said Romero Duno. “I’m so excited to be part of a such a big night as the co-main event of Canelo vs. Kovalev. This fight has been building up for some time. I’ve had my eye on Ryan Garcia for a while now. I promise to do everything it takes to beat him on Nov. 2 and take home a big victory for the Philippines!”

Undefeated Russian prospect Bakhram Murtazaliev (16-0, 13 KOs) will face the biggest test of his young career in a 12-round elimination bout with Jorge Fortea (20-1-1, 6 KOs) of Valencia, Spain for the mandatory position in the IBF Junior Middleweight Division. Murtazaliev was originally supposed to fight Jeison Rosario on September 21 for the #1 position but Rosario pulled out due to an injury. This exciting bout will be co-promoted by Main Events and Krusher Promotions in association with Sampson Boxing.

“I have been waiting a long time for this opportunity. I am excited for my first fight with my new trainer, Virgil Hunter. We will be ready on November 2ndto face Fortea and become mandatory challenger. Thank you to my team Main Events, Krusher Promotions, Kathy Duva, Sergey Kovalev, my manager, Egis Klimas and Virgil Hunter for making my dream a reality.”

According to Fortea, “It’s a moment I have been waiting for whole my life, to be part of the undercard of Canelo vs Kovalev for my US debut is like a dream. I trained 15 years for this. I want to thank Sampson Lewkowicz for making it true, Main Events and Golden Boy for hosting the eliminator. Murtazaliev is indeed a strong and dangerous boxer but I will be ready for that and my skills will prevail. I won’t waste the opportunity to fight for a world title”

Bakhram is a terrific fighter and we are so pleased to be able to give him this great opportunity on such an auspicious night,” said Main Events’ CEO Kathy Duva. “With any luck, Main Events and Krusher promotions will have another world champion soon.”

Two of the most exciting and popular female boxers in the sport today will finally settle their heated rivalry as Seniesa “Superbad” Estrada (17-0, 7 KOs) of East Los Angeles, Calif. and Marlen Esparza (7-0, 1 KOs) of Houston, Texas battle for the vacant Interim WBA Flyweight Title. This clash has been building up for over two years as both fighters have been exchanging words over social media and various interviews.

“Thank you to my promoter Golden Boy, especially Roberto Diaz for making this fight possible,” said Seniesa Estrada. “I’m happy to give the fans the fight they’ve been wanting to see. I’m looking forward to representing women’s boxing in a positive way. I’m going to put on a great show and demonstrate my skills, showing things that people have not yet seen from me. Thank you to all the people who continue to support me.”

“My team and I have been pushing for this fight,” said Marlen Esparza. “I know this is what the fans want. Now I’m forcing her to back up everything she has ever said. She knows it’s going to be a long night for her.”

Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (12-0-1, 8 KOs), a fan-favorite native of Philadelphia, will fight for the vacant NABF Welterweight Title against Carlos Ortiz (11-4, 11 KOs) of Torreon, Mexico. Cobbs is an exciting, unconventional fighter who has taken the undefeated records of Ferdinand “Lucky Boy” Kerobyan and most recently against Steve “Manos de Oro” Villalobos.

Rising 17-year-old prospect Tristan Kalkreuth (2-0, 2 KOs) of Duncanville, Texas will return in a four-round cruiserweight fight.

Meiirim Nursultanov (12-0, 8 KOs) of Merki, Kazakhstan will fight in a 10-roumd middleweight battle against Cristian Olivas (16-5, 13 KOs) of San Ysidro, California for the WBC – USNBC Middleweight Title. Nursultanov is a top prospect in the hot middleweight division and is current ranked #10 in the IBF. Olivas hits hard with power in both hands and has never been stopped. This should be an explosive match-up.

Evan Holyfield, the son of legendary Hall of Famer Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield, will make his much-anticipated professional debut in a four-round junior middleweight fight against Nick Winstead (0-1) of Abita Springs, La.

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN. The title clash is one of several highlights this fight season on DAZN – an entire fall featuring boxing’s biggest matchups in one of the best schedules in boxing history.

Tickets for Canelo vs. Kovalev are on sale and are priced at $1,754, $1,254, $854, $654, $404 and $204, not including applicable service charges and taxes. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.axs.com

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.MainEvents.com
and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,
www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez, https://www.facebook.com/thekrusher/,
https://www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxing and
https://www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloKovalev to a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy or Main Events where applicable for any photo and/or video usage.

The first underrated performance of the GGG canon

By Bart Barry-

Saturday at Madison Square Garden in a prizefight
broadcast on the aficionado’s network, DAZN, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (no new ‘i’
needed; we go with birth names, round here) narrowly decisioned Ukrainian Sergiy
“The Technician” Derevyanchenko to retain his HBO Middleweight Championship and
collect an assortment of other belts Canelo Alvarez doesn’t care for. The match was bloody, rough and suspenseful.

And when it was over and the scorecards were read the
selfstyled Mecca of Boxing booed Golovkin loudly enough to elicit a “c’mon
guys” from boxing’s once-charming malaprop machine. Then the postfight interview devolved into
the same scattering of the same Google Translate phrases into which every
Golovkin interview devolves, though it wasn’t nearly so amusing this time, was
it, guys?

For this time Golovkin had faced a man his own
size and looked it. This time Golovkin,
who somehow became The People’s Champion by being unable to stop in 24 rounds a
smaller man who is between 10 and 15 times more popular than he, countered
interesting and relevant questions with his usual dumb phrases, and nobody was enchanted
as before. All this and more, in a turn
ironic as it was predictable, oversparkled a Golovkin performance that was more
compelling and confirming than its predecessors.

All the booing and dissent served to make and
subvert what was the first underrated performance in Golovkin’s canon.

From the third round to the closing bell Saturday the
look on Golovkin’s face was exhausted betrayal.
One doubts Golovkin’s American assimilation comprises cultural awareness
enough to ring an internal alarm like: By jettisoning the handlers who
hoodwinked late-HBO programmers, Comrade Pyotr et al., I put myself in an
unprotected status with a network interested in feeding me to Canelo Alvarez
the way my previous network’s braintrust wanted Canelo fed to me.

Why, that’s madness, you’re now thinking, what
sort of braintrust would wish to see boxing’s one ticketseller from boxing’s one
reliable ticketbuying public mauled by a man from Kazakhstan?

You had to be there. GGG was a mania. In 15 years of doing this, the craziest
things I ever heard said by the sanest boxing minds were things uttered about
Golovkin’s prowess.

In this sense, what happened Saturday, what has
happened in four of Golovkin’s last six fights, was a betrayal of sorts to
those men who invested so ferally in the Golovkin legend. Because each time Golovkin has confronted a
fellow titlist or a proper middleweight recently – notice the ‘or’ there –
Golovkin has looked like much, much less than the most-feared man on the
planet.

Daniel Jacobs, middleweight permacontender, rose
from the canvas 2 1/2 years ago and showed Golovkin’s hypemen how poorly
chopping down a welterweight prepared the middleweight champion for a defense
with an actual middleweight. Canelo then went 36 minutes with GGG. Then, as DAZN’s otherwise annoying broadcast
crew reminded us Saturday, Golovkin first got offered a match with Derevyanchenko
but turned it down for a chance to poleax yet another career super welter. Canelo then went 36 minutes with GGG. Someone named Steve Rolls got excavated to launch
GGG’s new-network debut. And then
Saturday happened. Another career
middleweight.

There was a particularly disingenuous game GGG fanatics
used to play with the rest of us – a game they learned from The Money
Team. When you mentioned the HBOGGG tagline
about Golovkin’s readiness, willingness and ability to make war with any
champion between 154 pounds and 168, at those weights, and mentioned your own
annoyance with Golovkin’s only making war on 147- and 154-pound men forcefed to
160 pounds, GGG Nation would start listing titlists at 160 and 168 pounds and
ask you if you didn’t think he could beat them.

Your hypothetical assumption of a hypothetical
Golovkin triumph in a hypothetical fight was proof Golovkin had already beaten
these men, shouldn’t be required to fight them and – this is the richest part –
frightened all these larger men such that Golovkin should only don gloves for
those smaller men brave enough to face him.
You would try to argue it didn’t matter, really, Golovkin’s ultimate
record against men his own size; you just wanted to see him fight men his own
size before you partook in any GGG Nation naturalization ceremony.

Which is a torturous way of writing this: Golovkin
is not today diminished. What is
happening to him now is what always would have happened to him.

He hits quite hard but certainly not that much
harder than any other middleweight champion and not nearly hard as the best
super middleweights. His footwork is
plodding, his punches are often telegraphed, his defense is porous, and his
ring IQ ain’t that high either. His
vaunted ability to cut-off the ring never was a product of more than his
ability to walk through smaller men’s punches (you should see me cut-off the
ring on my 110-pound wife!).

Saturday Golovkin cut-off Derevyanchenko’s escape
routes often and just as often learned they were traps Derevyanchenko set for
him. Imagine that. A prizefighter with a 30-percent lower
knockout ratio than GGG’s, a prizefighter felled in round 1, a prizefighter
bleeding constantly into his right eye, opined so little of GGG’s power he made
strategic retreats to walk Golovkin into counters. He made Golovkin miss quite a bit too and
bent The People’s Champion in two, too, with a midrounds left hook to the
button.

And Golovkin responded with true heart and
chin. Two things soft matchmaking and
hard overpromoting deprived us of seeing during Golovkin’s reign of terror as
HBO Middleweight Champion. That’s the
good news for GGG Nation.

Here’s the bad: Y’all are out of your collective
gourd if you think Canelo “A Side” Alvarez is going to come down from 175
pounds to 160 to redeem Golovkin’s legacy.
Canelo may well give GGG his badly needed rubber match, but it won’t be
at middleweight. Eight years and 20
lucrative prizefights later Canelo is going to run a check on that “fight any man
from 154 to 168” credit and see what’s actually in the account. It says here: Canelo KO-10 is what.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

Evan “Yung Holy” Holyfield Set to Make Professional Debut on Canelo-Kovalev Undercard

Las Vegas, NV: On November 2, before thousands of fans in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV are treated to the most-anticipated fight of the year, the live audience will witness the professional debut of Evan “Yung Holy” Holyfield. The 21-year-old son of Hall-of-Famer and five-time world heavyweight champion, Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield, will face Nick Winstead of Abita Springs, Louisiana in a 4-round junior middleweight matchup on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev.

Evan is the middle child of the 11 Holyfield children and older brother of Carolina Panthers running back Elijah Holyfield. As an amateur, Holyfield amassed over 80 fights including the Semi-Finals for the US Team. Standing 6’1.5″, Evan is extremely athletic, a boxer-puncher with lightning fast speed and hard-hitting power.

When asked about debuting on the biggest fight card of the year, Evan said, “There is no added pressure. I have fought on the top level before as an amateur. All this really isn’t too much of a big deal. I am just here to do my job.”

He continued, “I know I am ready. My trainers have been switching things up a bit and making things more difficult to ensure I am ready. I would like to tell everyone who has helped me get here that I appreciate all the support and I love y’all.”

Evan “Yung Holy” Holyfield
Photo Credit: Hosanna Rull

Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events, said, “Heading into our 42nd year in business, it’s just wonderful to be able to debut Evan Holyfield on the biggest fight card of the year. His father, Evander, made his pro debut with Main Events on November 15, 1984 – almost exactly 35 years ago. I’m thrilled to have two generations from this family of incredible athletes under the Main Events’ banner.”

Evan has assembled a top-notch team fighting out of the Fighter Nation Boxing Gym in Houston, Texas. His trainer/manager is Maurice “Termite” Watkins (61-5-2, 42 KOs) and his strength and conditioning coach is Tim Hallmark, who has over 40 years of experience and is best-known for working with Evander Holyfield throughout his professional career.

“I know people called Evander ‘Real Deal’ but Evan is the real deal,” said Watkins. “There is pressure on him for this big card and because he has the Holyfield name, but that is part of the game. To be a great world champion you must be able to handle the pressure. You got to handle whatever circumstances are thrown at you.”

He explained, “Evan’s conditioning is incredible, but he is also amazingly talented with speed and power in both hands. We are training him to be skillful. We are going to look for him to hit and move.”

“We are prepared for a fight,” added Watkins. “We are ready to show our stuff and we are excited about being part of the Main Events team with Kathy Duva.”

Holyfield’s strength and conditioning coach, Tim Hallmark, said “We are constantly challenging Evan in different ways, and he is always up to those challenges. We are challenging him physically and mentally to keep him out of a rut. We are just trying to stay on the cutting edge and constantly looking at a better way to reach our end result.”
He continued, “We are excited about this opportunity. Evan has come a long way and he is a hard worker. He is mentally strong and very intelligent. He is a pleasure to work with. We will be ready for November 2nd.”

According to Main Events’ Matchmaker, Jolene Mizzone, “I am excited and honored to work with Evan and his entire team to get him to that championship level one day. I am going to fly the plane (make the fights) but he is the one who going to have to land it (win the fights). I have complete faith in him, his abilities and his team, Termite and Tim.”

Click Here for Evan Holyfield Video

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN.

Tickets for Canelo vs. Kovalev are on sale and are priced at $1,754, $1,254, $854, $654, $404 and $204, not including applicable service charges and taxes. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.axs.com.

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.MainEvents.com and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,
www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez, www.facebook.com/thekrusher/, www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxing and www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloKovalev to a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy or Main Events where applicable for any photo and/or video usage.

Canelo moves up the scale and away from GGG, but DAZN money has the final say-so

By Norm Frauenheim-

Canelo Alvarez says and does whatever he wants these days. Money buys that kind of power and Canelo has plenty.

It’s hard to argue with his $365-million contract with DAZN. But money exerts its own price. Makes its own demands.

At some point that money is going to force Canelo to take the fight he says he doesn’t want.

In formally announcing a Nov. 2 bout with Sergey Kovalev at Las Vegas MGM Grand in a risky jump up the scale from middleweight to light-heavy, Canelo said he was finished with Gennadiy Golovkin.

Canelo, who still holds three middleweight belts, said he would go back to 160 pounds no matter what happens against Kovalev in his bid to win a fourth title at a fourth weight.

But, he told reporters at a news conference Wednesday at Los Angles’ Union Station, it won’t be against GGG, who is 0-1-1 against him. Both fights were close, close enough to beg for a third.

But, no, Canelo said.

“We are finished ,’’ he said.

I’d bet $465 million that they’re not. That’s the total DAZN has invested in exactly the bout he now says won’t happen. There is his deal, the lion’s share. There is another $100 million in a contract that GGG signed in the wake of Canelo’s landmark deal.

GGG advisor Tom Loeffler has said GGG signed with DAZN because he saw it as the fastest way to a third fight. But only social media are immediate these days.

From Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder to GGG-Canelo, there are no quick turnarounds. There’s just the waiting.

But DAZN has time and reason to wait on the one rematch that might allow it the streaming network to cash in on its investment. Demetrius Andrade is an interesting fight, but it doesn’t have the upside that third bout with GGG has. Take it the bank.

Canelo promoter Oscar De La Hoya continues to say the third bout will happen in 2020.

“Oscar says many things that make no sense,’’ Canelo said in a counter that raises some question about where the Canelo-Golden Boy Promotions relationship is headed.

But De La Hoya is right about his one. It makes sense. Lots of cents.

Video: CANELO vs. KOVALEV – LOS ANGELES PRESS CONFERENCE

CANELO ALVAREZ VS. SERGEY KOVALEV LOS ANGELES PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES,

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 18, 2019): Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) of Guadalajara, Mexico and Russian warrior Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 29 KOs) hosted a press conference today at Union Station in Los Angeles, Calif. to formally announce their 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. The event will take place on Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live on DAZN.

Below is what today’s participants had to say at the presser.

CANELO ALVAREZ, WBC, WBA, Lineal and Ring Magazine Middleweight World Champion:

“I’m very grateful to all the fans as always. I’m very motivated here, it’s an honor for me to
share the ring with a fighter like Kovalev who I met in 2012. Now we’re about to make
history. I know it’s going to be the most difficult fight of my professional career. I will give the best I have in the ring and that day we can yell “Viva Mexico.”

SERGEY KOVALEV, Current WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion and Three-Time Light Heavyweight World Champion:

“I’m very happy to be here back in Los Angeles. Thanks to God and thanks to Canelo and his team for making this opportunity to get this fight. I think this is a big test for me in my boxing career because this is one of the best fighters in the world in boxing right now. I’m happy and I am excited. Thank you very much for the support.”

EDDY REYNOSO, Head Trainer and Manager of Canelo Alvarez:

“Thank you to Golden Boy and DAZN – this was a very difficult fight to make happen but the fight is now here. Only the big fighters and those that leave a footprint become these type of fighters. We know Kovalev well and we know the challenge that we are facing. He’s a great fighter that leaves everything in the ring and in one punch, he could end the fight. And we know it’s going to be a great challenge. We want Saul to be a champion in four weight classes,.”

JOSE “CHEPO” REYNOSO, Trainer and Manager of Canelo Alvarez:

“I’m nostalgic and cannot help but remember the beginnings of all this. To look back and
see everything-all the victories that Saul has given myself and my son, and the future victories, makes me happy. The Reynosos have been with Saul for over 15 years-ever since he was a child. We trust that he will gain victory here.”

BUDDY MCGIRT, Trainer of Sergey Kovalev:

“Both these guys are true champions. Canelo, I’ve always admired you. Your trainers did a
great job with you. I gotta admit that. I really take my hat off to you for having the balls for
taking a step up and not having a catch weight and stepping up to the challenge. Sergey, I
love you to death, I respect you for accepting the challenge. In all honestly, the only losers
on November 2 are the people who don’t want the fight or come to the fight.”

EGIS KLIMAS, Manager of Sergey Kovalev:

“I don’t think this fight needs to be introduced. When you hear the names Canelo Alvarez,
Krusher Kovalev, it says all that’s going to happen on November 2. I don’t need to talk
about Sergey – everybody knows who he is in boxing, and regarding Canelo, they know
what they mean when they say – grandes kajones.”

OSCAR DE LA HOYA, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy:

“Canelo hopes to become the fourth Mexican to win a world title in four divisions, with the only other ones being Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and Jorge Arce. One big difference is that Canelo is at a higher weight class. And this opens the possibility for many more matchups, and bigger opponents with strong punching and star power. When talking with Canelo about his career goals, he said he wanted to make history, and fight the best. This is why we had to be very strategic and thoughtful in planning out his next fight and while it may have taken a bit longer than we wanted, we know that it was worth the wait. Canelo has been preparing for this moment and we know that on Nov. 2 he’ll write a new chapter in boxing history by becoming the second Mexican ever to win a world title in the 175-pound division (Light Heavyweight). Together with DAZN, we’re committed to making boxing more accessible and affordable by giving fans the best fights – without the price tag of pay-per-view. Historic fights are a hallmark of this company and Golden Boy continues to deliver the biggest fights of the year. November 2 will be no exception, and we expect a great performance by our champion, Canelo Alvarez, as he becomes the new WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion.”

“I’m happy to announce that with a major bout like this one, the fans deserve the best
undercard possible. Our next big major star in the making, Ryan Garcia, will be fighting in
Las Vegas. He’s fighting Duno-it’s a fight the fans wanted and it’s going to be a tough fight.”

BERNARD HOPKINS, Hall of Famer and Golden Boy Business Partner:

“I know a little bit about history. And for Canelo to take a big leap from 160 to 175, to dare
to be great, to make history, anyone that’s not educated in boxing history, wouldn’t know
what I’m talking about right now. But just in case you want to learn because it’s never too
late, it’s very historic to be in the position of Canelo. And to bite off challenges and
challenge himself and dare to be great to make history. As Oscar said, not only Mexican
history, but also boxing history. There’s very few fighters who have accomplished 160 to
175 and been successful. As you know, you’re standing and hearing from one right now.
I have a personal feeling about making history because I’ve been there and done that
and now it’s Canelo’s time. I understand what it’s like to be in there with the Krusher. He
earned that and I respect that and I respect that to this day. Enjoy this historic fight and
watch Canelo Alvarez – who I call the Evil Knievel in boxing – who’s taken on the best
so far and is now taking on the best at light heavyweight.”

KATHY DUVA, CEO of Main Events:

“I want to give special thanks to Sergey Kovalev and Canelo Alvarez – as a lifelong
boxing fan, not just as a promoter. Unfortunately, sometime around the turn of the last
century, boxing began to lose its way. Instead of building a legacy, avoiding
unnecessary risk became the goal and to this day, some fighters are praised for it.
Competitions suffer because of that. When we first met, Sergey was so adamant that he
wanted to test his skills against the very best. He wanted to find out how good he really
was. Canelo, you may have bit off more than you can chew, but that’s okay. Great fighters are not afraid to challenge themselves. And win or lose, history will reward you for taking
a risk. Congratulations Ryan, you will not be the only spectacular young fighter on the card that night, because also sharing that ring is another intelligent, well-spoken, absolutely
fantastic young fighter – his name is Evan Holyfield. And he is the son of the great
Evander Holyfield. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to work with Evander’s son after all
these years. You’re all going to see him and meet him, and I think you will all be thrilled.”

RYAN GARCIA, Lightweight Contender:

“I want to thank the fans for coming out because it’s a weekday, you guys didn’t need to
come here. Thank you guys for coming. I’m excited. The co-main event on the biggest card
of the year. I’m so honored. It’s a big night. I get to fight the guy I wanted to fight most,
Romero Duno. They all said I was scared and I was worried about him and now I have the
chance to get my respect and show everyone I’m a real fighter. Everybody stay tuned. It’s
going to be a big fight. Thank you to everybody for believing in me and thank you to Golden Boy for getting the job done. Let’s make history.”

JOSEPH MARKOWSKI, Executive Vice President, DAZN North America:

“In one year’s time, I believe we’ve managed to assemble the best schedule in the history of
boxing. Let’s just look where we are: Canelo vs. Kovalev – boxing’s biggest star jumping up
two weight classes; Ruiz vs. Joshua II – the rematch of the biggest heavyweight upset in
some year; KSI vs. Logan Paul, bringing millions of new fans to the sport of boxing; GGG,
back in title contention from MSG; the list goes on for DAZN. To our subscribers, you’re in
for a tremendous end to 2019 and tremendous year to come.”

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN.

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.MainEvents.com
and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,
www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez, https://www.facebook.com/thekrusher/,
https://www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxing and https://www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/.
Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloKovalev to a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy or Main Events where applicable for any photo and/or video usage.

RYAN GARCIA AND GOLDEN BOY SOLIDIFY THEIR PACT AS THE YOUNG STAR HAS EXTENDED HIS MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENT

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 16, 2019): Golden Boy and Ryan Garcia have solidified their pact as the popular lightweight sensation has extended his multi-year agreement with the company. The rising star will make his return in the co-main event of Canelo vs. Kovalev. Additional details will be announced shortly.

Garcia is one of the most exciting and innovating talents in boxing. The native of Victorville, Calif. has an appeal that is already reaching mainstream audiences, demonstrating that his potential for worldwide success is limitless. The 21-year-old pugilist has already defeated tough contenders such as Jayson “La Maravilla” Velez, Carlos “The Solution” Morales and Jose “Wonder Boy” Lopez. But as he gets closer to a world title opportunity, Garcia has extended his contract with Golden Boy in one of the most lucrative deals in history for a boxing prospect.

“One of our defining features as a company is to develop champions and make them into stars,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy. “From the second we discovered Garcia, we knew he was different. We knew he was special. We knew he could move the needle. Besides his amazing talent, he brings an outside appeal that few fighters can achieve. At the same time, he also needs the right environment to develop, and that environment is with us. Under our guidance, I have no doubt that this young, charismatic fighter will become the biggest star in the sport.”

“Actions speak louder than words,” said Ryan Garcia. “I’m here today to show everybody that I consider Golden Boy my family and that we’re going to be in this together as I fulfill my dreams. Just like I have all the capabilities to become a big star, Golden Boy has all the tools to get me there. But I just want to tell all of our fans: Enjoy the ride!”

About Golden Boy
Los Angeles-based Golden Boy was established in 2002 by Oscar De La Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a national boxing promotional company. Golden Boy is a media and entertainment brand committed to making fighting entertainment more accessible and affordable. The company’s in-house production team develops creative original programming for ESPN, RingTV.com and international channels across the globe. The company holds the exclusive rights to top boxers and has promoted some of the biggest and highest grossing events in the history of the sport. Now, Golden Boy is one of the most successful boxing entertainment companies in the world and shapes the future of boxing for fighters and fans alike through its 2019 partnership with streaming platform, DAZN.

CANELO ALVAREZ TO CHALLENGE SERGEY ‘KRUSHER’ KOVALEV FOR THE WBO LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT WORLD TITLE

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 13, 2019) – Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 34 KOs), the face of boxing and the king of the middleweight division, will take on a new challenge as he moves into the 175-pound weight class in a 12-round bout against champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (34-3-1, 28 KOs) for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and will be streamed exclusively live on DAZN in all of its nine markets, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan.

Tickets for Canelo vs. Kovalev are priced at $1,754, $1,254, $854, $654, $404 and $204, not including applicable service charges and taxes. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.axs.com.

“We promised to make this fight happen, and now we are delivering it,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy. “Historic fights have been a hallmark of this company, and we are pleased to once again live up to the high expectations we’ve set for our fans. The best pound-for-pound fighter is also boxing’s biggest star. Few fighters in boxing’s history can claim to be both like Canelo Alvarez. Now, he’ll look to become a four-division world champion against one of the most dangerous fighters of recent years, and I’m certain that he will stop him. There’s no better home for this than on the DAZN platform or live at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.”

At 160 pounds, Canelo defeated Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs to establish himself as the king of the middleweight division. And, shortly after signing a groundbreaking partnership with global sports streaming giant DAZN, Canelo moved into the 168-pound division by stopping Rocky Fielding in three rounds to become the WBA Super Middleweight World Champion.

Canelo will now look to make history once again by becoming the second Mexican boxer to hold a world title in the light heavyweight division, a feat only done by Julio Cesar Gonzalez in 2003. The pound-for-pound king will at the same time join an elite group of four-division world champions from Mexico.

“The second phase of my career is continuing just as we had planned, and that’s why we are continuing to make great fights to enter into the history books of boxing,” said Canelo Alvarez. “That’s also why I’ve decided to jump two weight classes against one of the most feared champions of recent years. Kovalev is a dangerous puncher, and he’s naturally the bigger man, but that’s the kind of challenges and risks that I like to face.”

On November 2nd, Kovalev, 36, will participate in his 17thconsecutive world title bout and the most lucrative fight of his career against the biggest star in boxing. A Russian knockout artist and three-time light heavyweight world champion, “Krusher” is no stranger to fighting in hostile territory. He captured the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title in 2013 when he traveled to Wales and scored a stunning knockout of Nathan Cleverly. Kovalev traveled to Atlantic City to meet future Hall of Famer Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins near his Philadelphia home to unify the WBO, WBA and IBF titles with a lopsided unanimous decision victory in 2014.As unified champion, “Krusher” successfully defended his titles twice against current WBA Interim Light Heavyweight titleholder Jean Pascal in Pascal’s hometown of Montreal, scoring a stoppage victory both times.

Kovalev suffered two controversial losses to former Olympic Gold medalist Andre Ward (in 2016 and 2017) and a surprise upset to Eleider Alvarez last year, but quickly regained his WBO Light Heavyweight Title each time. In August, the road warrior finally got the chance to fight in his own hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, stopping undefeated mandatory challenger Anthony Yarde in a sold-out arena.

When asked about this fight, Kovalev said, “In order to be the best you have to beat the best. I have always tried to fight the toughest opponents in my division, but many have ducked me throughout my career. Canelo wanted to fight me; to step up to higher weight and challenge for my belt. I will be ready on November 2nd. Thank you, Main Events, Kathy Duva, Egis Klimas, DAZN and Canelo for making this fight happen.”

“Canelo is to be praised for asking to challenge Sergey Kovalev,” added Main Events’ CEO Kathy Duva. “Win or lose, he will make history and Sergey is extremely pleased to get the chance to test his mettle against another future Hall of Famer.” She continued, “Anyone who cares at all about the Sweet Science should circle November 2ndon their calendar. I have a feeling that this will be one for the ages.”

“Canelo vs. Kovalev is a fascinating matchup between champions that will highlight our entire season of premium fights on DAZN over the next several months,” said DAZN Group Executive Chairman John Skipper. “Simply stated, this is the best schedule in boxing history.”

Richard Sturm, President of Las Vegas Live Entertainment and Sports, said, “We look forward to hosting this tremendous matchup between Canelo and Kovalev at MGM Grand in November. These two great fighters always put on a fantastic show and we are confident they will, once again, provide boxing fans worldwide a thrilling fight when they return to Las Vegas.”

Canelo vs. Kovalev is a 12-round fight for the WBO Light Heavyweight World Title presented by Golden Boy, Main Events and Krusher Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle” and Brand-New Grapefruit Crush, Knockout Flavor.The event will take place Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN.

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.MainEvents.com
and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @KrusherKovalev and @DAZN_USA. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,
www.facebook.com/SaulCaneloAlvarez, https://www.facebook.com/thekrusher/,
https://www.facebook.com/MainEventsBoxingand https://www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy, @Canelo, @Main_Events, @SergeyKrusherKovalev, and @DAZN_USA. Follow the conversation using #CaneloKovalev.

Photos and videos are available for download by clicking here or copying and pasting the link http://bit.ly/CaneloKovalevto a browser. Credit must be provided to Golden Boy or Main Events where applicable for any photo and/or video usage.

Canelo-Golden Boy: Fight with Sergey Kovalev would mean more to fans than an apology

By Norm Frauenheim-

Trouble between Canelo Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions isn’t exactly a surprise. Seeds and signs of discontent have been circulating for at least a year.

It’s not clear how it will end. For now, Golden Boy is saying all is okay, meaning business as usual will continue despite news a couple of weeks ago that Canelo is unhappy.

That wasn’t a mere rumor. It came from him in a social-media salvo full of frustration at how he said he was kept in the dark by Golden Boy throughout the futility that led to the International Boxing Federation’s move to strip him of its middleweight title.

Canelo wanted answers.

A couple of weeks later, it’s not clear how many he got. There was a reported meeting this week about what to do next, or at least when to do it.

November 2 is the proposed date for Canelo’s next bout, his fourth since signing a $365-million landmark deal with DAZN. Golden Boy president Eric Gomez told ESPN Thursday that the first Saturday in November has been placed on the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s agenda for consideration at its meeting on Tuesday.

But there’s not much else about where or even against whom. There are only the questions.

Demetrius Andrade, who holds the World Boxing Organization’s 160-pound belt, still appears to be the most likely foe. But there’s also persistent talk that Canelo, who has a World Boxing Council “franchise belt” and the World Boxing Association’s title, is still thinking about a jump up to light-heavy for a shot at Sergey Kovalev, who fights Anthony Yarde on Aug. 24 in Russia.

Just a guess, but DAZN executive John Skipper’s preference might be Kovalev. Andrade could be a tougher challenge for Canelo. But Andrade is not as well-known as Kovalev, who generated headlines throughout controversial losses to Andre Ward, first in 2016 and again in 2017.

Kovalev also might be a perfect fit for Canelo in a PR battle to halt the erosion in the Mexican’s popularity. In boxing’s traditional good-versus-evil plot, Kovalev would play the bad guy. He’s a natural.

There are lots of reasons for fans to wonder why they like Canelo. Against Kovalev, however, he’d look good in comparison and perhaps even better in fact if he wins definitively. Winning, however, is the risk. Kovalev has proven to be resilient since Ward.

The Russian is still dangerous. For Canelo, however, there’s more danger to his career and public persona if he doesn’t try to halt a string of controversy that has left fans exasperated.

First, there were negotiations with just about everybody but Gennadiy Golovkin. Then, there was the announcement that Canelo would forgo his expected bout on Sept. 14, a date that would coincide with Mexico’s annual Independence Day on Sept. 16. Then, there were failed talks with Ukrainian middleweight Sergiy Derevyanchenko and the IBF’s subsequent stripping.

Canelo apologized to the fans in the same message that asked Golden Boy for answers. But fans aren’t very forgiving. Guess here, they want Kovalev, more than an apology or an Andrade.

For a while, at least, a winnable bout at 175-pounds against Kovalev might make fans forget about Golovkin while also re-assuring DAZN that it made a good investment. GGG would still be there, waiting and ready for a third fight. For now, however, GGG is off the board. But Kovalev will be there, if – as expected – he beats Yarde, a UK prospect.

Kovalev and a Canelo victory over the feared Russian also might be the only way Golden Boy and Canelo can start over. It’s a risk, but business-as-usual poses even bigger risks.

Canelo in Dark of getting stripped of IBF Title

According to Dan Rafael of espn.con, Middleweight champion Canelo was unaware of the deal his promotional company Golden Boy Promotions made with the IBF that ultimately got him stripped of his belt.

“I’m very upset and ashamed with my fans, to be unfairly stripped of my belt by the IBF, but specially when I did not have the knowledge of the agreement that GBP match maker had signed,” Alvarez wrote Friday evening on social media.

Eric Gomez, the president of Golden Boy, however, backed up Golden Boy Matchmaker Robert Diaz with a post on social media Friday night.

“(Diaz) did nothing wrong,” Gomez wrote. “The IBF has been unfair to Canelo since he won the title in May. Oscar De La Hoya and I stand by Roberto 1000%.”

STATEMENT FROM OSCAR DE LA HOYA REGARDING THE IBF’S DECISION TO STRIP MIDDLEWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION CANELO ALVAREZ

LOS ANGELES, CA. (Aug. 1, 2019): Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy, has issued the following statement in response to the International Boxing Federation’s decision to strip middleweight world champion, Canelo Alvarez.

“We are extremely disappointed at the IBF for forcing the world’s best fighter to relinquish his world title. We have been in serious negotiations with Sergiy Derevyanchenko’s promoter. We offered his team an unprecedented amount of money for a fighter of his limited stature and limited popularity, but the truth is that I’m now certain they never had any intention of making a deal. But instead they wanted to force us to relinquish Canelo’s belt. This is an insult to boxing and more importantly an insult to the boxing fans of the world. This decision validates already existing concerns about the credibility of the IBF championship. Canelo inherited a mandatory challenger by defeating Daniel Jacobs, the man who beat Derevyanchenko, so to strip him of his title without giving him enough time to make the best fight possible is truly what is wrong with boxing, and I plan to aggressively consider all legal actions possible.”

Canelo and Derevyanchenko closing in on deal

Middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and Sergiy Derevyanchenko are closing in on a deal that would pit them against each other this fall, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.

GOLDEN BOY POSTPONES CANELO FIGHT

LOS ANGELES (July 17, 2019): Golden Boy and Canelo Alvarez have made the strategic decision to postpone their typical September fight. The decision was made in an effort to secure the right opponent and to do justice to the level of promotion required for a boxing star of his magnitude. Though Canelo typically fights in May and September, it is not without precedent to fight later in the year as Canelo did fight in December of 2018 in Madison Square Garden. Canelo’s next fight will now take place later in 2019.

“As a Mexican, it’s a responsibility and an honor to represent my country in both May and September,” said Canelo Alvarez. “Those are my dates. However, as a world champion in multiple weight classes, I also have the responsibility of delivering the most exciting and competitive fights possible. That’s why Golden Boy and my team have decided to postpone the date in order to do right by my fans by promoting the best fight possible and with the best opponent possible.”

CANELO ALVAREZ WINS PRESTIGIOUS 2019 ESPY AWARD FOR BEST BOXER

LOS ANGELES (July 10, 2019): Golden Boy is proud to share the exciting news that Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s biggest star and the veritable king of the middleweight division, has won the prestigious 2019 ESPY award for Best Boxer.

“I want to thank the ESPY Awards for having nominated me as best boxer of the year,” said Canelo Alvarez. “And more than anything I want to thank the fans for allowing me to win. I am very thankful. Thank you, and we will be working toward even more. God willing, we will be working towards more, and we will keep making the best fights, and I will keep being the best boxer. Thank you to everyone. Thank you to my fans. Thank you to all the people at the ESPYs. Your friend Canelo sends his salutations!”

This award is yet another achievement in what is becoming a historic career for the 28-year-old star from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Aside from capturing world titles in the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions, Canelo is also recognized for having signed the most lucrative sports contract for an athlete in history by initiating a five-year partnership with DAZN, the global leader in sports streaming.

Oscar De La Hoya, who himself earned ESPY awards for Best Boxer in 1999 and 2006, was delighted at the news and congratulated Canelo for his achievement.

“People all around the world are acknowledging what we have been saying for years: Canelo Alvarez is the best boxer in the world,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy. “Aside from being the king of the middleweight division, Canelo is also the biggest star in boxing. He embodies a perfect mix of strength, skill, courage and marketability that has made him into a breakout star. On behalf of everyone at Golden Boy, we thank the ESPY Awards. Congratulations, champ!”

WBC Makes Canelo “Franchise” Champion

The WBC stripped Canelo Alvarez of his world title, and made him their “Franchise” champion, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.

“The franchise champion is a special designation and status which the WBC may bestow to a current WBC world champion, who is also an elite boxer and who has achieved and maintains the highest of statures in the sport,” the WBC said in its explanation.

“We’re very happy and glad that Canelo is being recognized,” Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez told ESPN on Thursday. “We think it’s an honor for Canelo to be elevated to franchise champion. It goes to show that he is being recognized for all of his accomplishments.”

“With Canelo’s appointment as franchise champion WBC interim champion Jermall Charlo is now confirmed as WBC middleweight champion of the world,” the WBC added.

Canelo – Golovkin 3 talks impasse over site

Talks of 3rd fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin have hit a snag over the site of a proposed fight, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.

olovkin has made it clear that after an extremely controversial draw in their first fight in September 2017 and a disputed majority-decision loss in their rematch last September that cost him his belts and ended his reign tied for the division record, with 20 consecutive defenses, he has no desire to return to Las Vegas for a third fight, feeling that he did not get a fair shake in boxing’s capital.

Las Vegas, however, is where Alvarez intends to fight, specifically at T-Mobile Arena, which hosted both bouts with Golovkin and where they generated more than $50 million in ticket sales between the two fights.

Alavrez could look for fights at super middleweight and light heavyweight against champion Callum Smith or Sergey Kovalev.

“Canelo absolutely is serious about fighting Kovalev, and I think it would be a great fight,” Golden Boy’s Eric Gomez told ESPN. “All I can say is that Canelo is serious about making history and fighting him. Canelo always wants to fight the best opponents and the biggest fights. I think Canelo is the best fighter in the world, and I think anywhere between 160 and 175 pounds, he will give anyone a run for their money.”

Main Events CEO Kathy Duva, Kovalev’s promoter, said a fight with Alvarez is certainly one their side is interested in.

“I do believe, based upon what I am hearing, that Canelo really wants to fight Sergey,” Duva said. “It’s a legacy thing. But Golden Boy has not made us any kind of offer. So unless and until they do, there is nothing to talk about. Having said that, you have to really admire Canelo. The guy is truly a throwback fighter, always looking for a bigger challenge. I really admire that about him. And, of course, Sergey would love it too.”

GGG: No matter how you spell it, Golovkin re-enters the ring looking for changes and a Canelo trilogy

By Norm Frauenheim-

The name is little bit different. The corner is a lot different. Whether the differences add up to a reinvented fighter are about to be tested, first Saturday at New York’s Madison Square Garden in what looks to be a rehearsal for a third fight in a trilogy that could define a middleweight legacy still known for the GGG signature.

Let’s start with the name. Call him Gennadiy. That’s no typo. There’s an i between the d and y because there always has been, said Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs), the former Gennady who fights Steve Rolls (19-0, 10 KOs) in his first bout (DAZN 9 p.m. ET) since a majority-decision loss to Canelo Alvarez in a rematch last September.

Go ahead and try to connect the dots on why he added the single vowel now and not before the controversial draw and then loss in his rivalry with Canelo. You still wind up with a speculative puzzle. But the guess here is that Golovkin wants to start anew by righting all the wrongs.

First, the name. Then, a third fight with Canelo that he believes will forever prove he should have been judged the winner in each of the first two. Just a matter of correcting the record. For Golovkin, however, that task is accented with some urgency.

He’s 37, which is somewhere between prime time and retirement on a fighter’s career clock. He hits the reset button by — in effect — re-introducing himself with a first name altered with an appropriate I, as if to say:

“I have changed.’’

Maybe, he has.

If so, a key to those changes will come about because of a new corner, Johnathon Banks instead of Abel Sanchez. There was nothing pretty about the split with Sanchez, the longtime GGG trainer who was angry at what he said was an insulting offer after Golovkin signed with DAZN for a reported $100 million. GGG’s lowball might have been his way of moving on. Sanchez’ pride would get in the way of a renewed deal. And it did.

It was painful. But it was boxing. And it was business. In retrospect, it simply looks like a GGG step toward change. It’s clear he’s back in the ring for one reason: A third fight with Canelo.

“One of the reason Gennadiy chose The Zone (DAZN) was that it was the clearest path to a third fight,’’ GGG promoter Tom Loeffler said at news conference introducing Banks on the afternoon before Canelo, DAZN’s marquee client, scored a unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs on May 4 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

Golovkin sat at the T-Mobile ringside that night and witnessed a dominant Canelo victory over Jacobs that was full of lessons about why change was necessary. Go ahead and argue about the judging in each of their first two fights. Against Jacobs, however, it was clear that Canelo is on a roll. From fight-to-fight, he is getting better by increments. At 28, Canelo is entering his prime. At 37, Golovkin is leaving his

There were signs of stagnancy in his two fights against Canelo. He landed big shots, especially in the first fight. In the second fight, however, Canelo’s newfound upper-body moment was a key to eluding much of GGG’s power. There was an ominous sign in the CompuBox stats. GGG landed only eight body shots in the first fight. He landed only six in the rematch. Over 24 rounds, he’ averaging less than one body punch a round.

If Canelo’s momentum continues at its steamrolling rate and GGG stays at a career plateau, the third fight could be all Canelo. Hence, the GGG changes.

“He’s a big puncher, which in my opinion is why he needs to throw more of them,’’ Banks, a former cruiserweight campion and an Emanuel Steward student, said at the May news conference.

More punches, a lot more, would be the punctuation – dotting the i in Gennadiy – for what might be the most significant change of all.

Canelo ordered to defend against Derevyanchenko by IBF

Canelo Alavrez has been ordered to defend his middleweight crown against Sergiy Derevyanchenko by the IBF, according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.

“Negotiations should commence immediately and be concluded by June 15, 2019,” the IBF wrote. The fight is due by August 4th.

“It’s really surprising and unfortunate that we didn’t get a congratulations letter [from the IBF] like we would in the past,” Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez told ESPN. “We will be meeting with Canelo in the next week or so to see what he would like to do.”

“Now that the IBF has ordered immediate negotiations between the two sides, I will sit down with Sergiy, [adviser] Al Haymon and Lou DiBella next week and talk about the best course of action,” Keith Connolly, Derevyanchenko’s manager, told ESPN.

SAUNDERS DARES CANELO TO FACE HIM

BILLY JOE SAUNDERS has dared Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez to face him at either middleweight or super-middleweight.

Saunders was boosted over the weekend when it was confirmed that his showdown against German based Albanian Shefat Isufi at Stevenage FC’s Lamex Stadium on Saturday May 18 will be for the vacant WBO world super-middleweight championship, live on BT Sport.

Gilberto Ramirez has relinquished the title and decided to box at light-heavyweight giving Saunders the opportunity to become a two-weight world champion next week.

The former WBO world middleweight champion said: “I would love the Canelo fight, but does he want to fight me? I don’t think so.

“If they do want to fight me, ring me up. I am not asking for millions. Just be fair with me and we can get the show on the road.

“Canelo has cemented his name, made good money and is a superstar in the sport. I wouldn’t say he is avoiding me, but there are plenty of people he can pick apart from Billy Joe Saunders.

“That is a fact. Who wants to fight a slick southpaw who is hard to hit?

“It could be middleweight or super-middleweight. I want the big fights and that is a reason I am moving up to super-middleweight. I cannot get the big fights at middleweight.”

‘Canelo’ outpointed Daniel Jacobs in a world middleweight title clash on Saturday, but stipulated that the American could weigh no more than 170lb on fight morning.

Jacobs was 3.6lb over which reportedly cost him around $750,000 in penalties and although Saunders will not be greedy with demands, he insisted: “I wouldn’t be restricted for any weight clauses at all.

“Daniel Jacobs was clearly struggling to come in the next day only three pounds over the agreed weight. If he wanted to balloon up he would have been eight or nine pounds above what he was at the weigh-in.

“That has cost him a lot of money and I believe that took a bit of performance away from Jacobs.”

If Saunders adds the WBO 168lb title to his collection, another juicy clash would be a ‘Battle of Britain’ against Liverpool’s WBA Super champion, Callum Smith.

Hatfield traveller Saunders added: “Callum is a good fighter and big, but I think people go on about size in this sport too much.

“We saw David Haye beating Nikolai Valuev. Size doesn’t matter in this sport.

“If you’re good enough, you’re good enough, end of and I believe I am good enough to beat Callum Smith. That is a fight I would entertain.”

The vacant WBO super-middleweight title clash between Billy Joe Saunders and Shefat Isufi headlines the bill at Stevenage football ground with unbeaten heavyweight Joe Joyce facing former world title challenger Alexander Ustinov in the chief supporting contest.

British super-bantamweight champion Brad Foster faces Commonwealth title holder , Ashley Lane with both belts on the line.

Chingford prospect Boy Jones Jr fights for the vacant WBO Youth World Lightweight title

Tickets can be purchased via borotickets.co.uk and are priced as below:

£250 – Hospitality

£150 – Pitch

£100 – Pitch

£75 – Pitch

£50 – Stand

£40 – Stand

Some Cinnamon dust for boxing’s B+

By Bart Barry-

Saturday in Las Vegas Saul “Canelo” Alvarez further unified his undisputed status as world’s best middleweight by narrowly if unanimously decisioning IBF titlist Daniel Jacobs in DAZN’s second-best mainevent of the last two weekends. Canelo did what Canelo does, and if it isn’t worth the $300 million or so his new broadcaster pays him, it’s still worth more than whatever any of his peers makes.

No, the variable Saturday was not Canelo but Jacobs. And Jacobs was no variable at all, turning in another B+ effort – the average of A talent and C audacity – ensuring more generous paydays and flattering profiles to come.

Let’s see if we can mimic Jacobs’ fighting style for a few words.

Seems like a good idea might be to start stepping forward and maybe committing a little more, maybe jabbing, or if you’re already jabbing, maybe, you know, start stepping into it and seeing if the other guy’s head mightn’t move back a little or else try seeing if his whole body might, kind of, start moving back or relenting, or maybe relenting isn’t exactly the right term, since boxers, by the way they usually are, don’t tend to be too relenting, however they sometimes seem at times to be, and so it’s probably right to try remembering it seems hitting the other guy is probably as good of an idea for bringing yourself closer to victory as it is for keeping him from, like, going after you too hard if you don’t want him to, but there are also counterpunches that favor his momentum, so, you know, either way?

(Editor’s note: This is indecisive and awful; you have the words, but for God’s sake, you’re afraid to use your vocabulary and, frankly, you write like a bitch.)

Any man who enters a prizefighting ring and doubts for a moment the malice of his opponent is doomed. When a sense of doom pervades any motion by any fighter, it is a spectacle weak as it is unfortunate, but it is tragic, in addition to weak and unfortunate, when the doomed man has more talent than the man dooming him.

Most fighters box best when they are happy, not so much in the sense of euphoric as comfortable. They find rhythm, dare we say flow, and that familiar rhythm frees their hands and feet to respond so instantly to the commands from their central nervous systems as to appear mindless, as to fool both onlookers and fighters towards thinking the hands and feet do the processing for themselves.

Daniel Jacobs is an exception to this. He fights best when he is angry. Some of this might be attributable to the physical weakness and subsequent doubt he experienced when his body turned against itself in the form of cancer. More of it is likely attributable to what Dmitry Pirog did to him nine years ago.

In Jacobs’ case, for whatever reason, there is a deep fear of humiliation, and not until an opponent begins to humiliate Jacobs via his own inaction does Jacobs risk the humiliation of what open aggression might get him stretched. In those retaliatory moments, though, when Jacobs fights from a place of deep offense, when he returns fire in a way that says “how dare you!”, he is fine a middleweight as his generation can boast.

But no sooner does Jacobs restore order than he relents once more, satisfied to look good losing a narrow decision, one close enough to keep the money handle cranking for a rehab match then a rematch, rather than chance a humiliating knockout loss by going for another man’s unconsciousness. There were a few times Saturday Canelo knocked Jacobs backwards and used the resulting space to press his advantage. And Jacobs braked that immediately. Canelo stopped, chastened, collected himself, then looked nearly relieved Jacobs was back in his own head, overthinking what might happen if he went further.

These moments were so different from the moments Jacobs went on offense and shoeshined the pitapat till he got hard countered. Jacobs on his shinebox looked put-upon by the task, almost annoyed, joyless robotic: This is what I must do or my corner will lecture me when I get back home. Canelo bought none of it; he knew Jacobs couldn’t possibly decision him in Las Vegas, and so Jacobs’ shoeshining mattered only insofar as it taught Canelo the downbeat upon which Jacobs might best be sandblasted with a counter hook or uppercut.

If all that came through a DAZN stream to a thousand miles from ringside, do not doubt how obvious it was to both men Saturday.

Canelo is not an alltime great, but he is the best thing we’ve got right now. He challenges himself when he needn’t (imagine, for a moment, how many times GGG would lap the welterweight and super welterweight fields had he Canelo’s contractual guarantees as middleweight champion), and he makes reliably entertaining fights. Not great fights, no, not spectacles of such violence and willfulness spectators openly consider the human condition, but reliably entertaining fights. So it has been with him from the beginning, whether collecting a kneeknocker from the other Miguel Cotto in his American television debut, or knobpulling the Amir Khan slurpee machine, Canelo does just a spot more than his critics think he might – and curses them to endure pundits’ hyperbole till the next Mexican holiday weekend.

Canelo was just audacious enough Saturday to make the official scorecards fair. He fought the best prime middleweight he’d yet to fight, too. Our beloved sport has had better standardbearers than Canelo, but recently it also has had much, much worse.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry