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Gennadiy Golovkin is a lucrative gem who was unearthed by HBO and eventually moved to DAZN when the premium cable network threw in the towel in 2018.
Golovkin signed a three-year, six-fight deal with DAZN in March 2019 that would pay the knockout artist at least eight figures per fight and up to $100 million in total. Golovkin’s package also included corporate stakes in DAZN and guaranteed dates to run GGG Promotions shows on the OTT network – events of which there were few.
40-year-old Golovkin has fought four times on DAZN since June 2019 against Steve Rolls, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Kamil Szeremeta and Ryota Murata.
Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) will finally get the fight he’s been promised since signing a deal with the streaming service when he fights in a trilogy bout for the undisputed super middleweight title on Sept. 17 against Canelo Alvarez performs at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on DAZN pay-per-view.
The third fight is four years in the making. The pair battled to a shared tie in 2017 and Alvarez sneaked past in 2018 by scoring a majority decision. Many forecasters have since argued that Golovkin won both fights.
If Golovkin beat Alvarez would he be interested in a fourth fight?
“Probably not because it’s too expensive. For whom? For DAZN? I do not believe it. only for whom? For ESPN? Show Time?” Golovkin told BoxingScene.com.
DAZN, Golovkin and Alvarez had to overcome several standoffs and hurdles over the years to make the third bout.
Always in a position of leverage as an A-man, Alvarez wanted to push his preferred bargaining points further and stick with arch-rival Golovkin.
After an aggressive bid for first place in the US boxing broadcast market, DAZN has taken a serious step backwards by not opening the checkbook to fights as generously as it used to.
Since signing deals with both fighters, DAZN’s strategy has also shifted to a more global strategy coupled with the introduction of PPV after PPV was declared ‘dead’.
DAZN also lost Alvarez when Alvarez filed a lawsuit against Golden Boy Promotions and DAZN that got him out of a $365 million 10-fight deal he signed in 2018.
Alvarez fought three times on DAZN prior to the lawsuit, and he has since fought four times in a fight-for-fight deal. Alvarez also fought in this stretch once at Showtime.
On Golovkin’s side of the road, DAZN called on GGG to take a pay cut in 2020, which the Kazakh fighter carried out during the mandatory defense of his middleweight title against Szeremeta.
Golovkin and DAZN were forced to return to the negotiating table this year and agree on consolation prizes to make the Alvarez fight possible after the Mexican star verbally agreed to a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing and DAZN that consisted of playing in the May to fight against Dmitry Bivol , and finally Golovkin in September.
Instead of engaging in an immediate rematch with Bivol after dropping a unanimous decision to the Russian, Alvarez eventually opted to take on Golovkin in the long-awaited bout.
After a detour, Golovkin finally got what he wanted all along, but with a lukewarm opinion on a possible fourth fight, he left it open to interpretation of where “The Big Drama Show” will go after the trilogy.
“I wasn’t 100% sure [if the third fight would ever happen],” said Golovkin. “There have been some developments in the Alvarez court. He didn’t try to take the fight at any point and postponed it. But there was hope. On the other hand, I think it’s reasonable that he’s agreeing to this fight now.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, author and broadcast reporter. He is also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan and by email at manouk[dot]akopjan[at]gmail.com or at www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
