Oscar De La Hoya: Canelo Alvarez will fight in Las Vegas May 4, but not against Daniel Jacobs or Gennady Golovkin
Reporting from NEW YORK — Oscar De La Hoya has reserved T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 4 for Canelo Alvarez’s next fight, but he emphatically said “no” to the idea of having either Gennady Golovkin or Daniel Jacobs as the opponent that night.
“No, not in May, not at all … we have no opponent [scheduled] whatsoever, but not Jacobs,” De La Hoya told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday following the news conference at Madison Square Garden for Alvarez’s attempt to win a third division belt Saturday against secondary World Boxing Assn. super-middleweight champion Rocky Fielding of England.
Jacobs, who wears the International Boxing Federation middleweight belt, said he would attend Alvarez-Fielding and wants a Cinco de Mayo weekend showdown with Mexico’s World Boxing Council and World Boxing Assn. middleweight champion Alvarez.
“It’s no secret that my focus is on Canelo,” Jacobs wrote in a news release this week. “There is no other fight in boxing I want right now more than him. I believe that I am the best middleweight in the world, and [Alvarez] thinks he is, so let’s put it all on the line.”
De La Hoya declined to reveal why he’s so opposed to Jacobs, a former secondary WBA champion who fought a well-contested 2017 bout against Golovkin.
Who is Rocky Fielding and how did he land a fight with Canelo Alvarez? »
Jacobs’ promoter, Eddie Hearn, indicated De La Hoya’s stance against Jacobs was a negotiating ploy. “In an interview [Wednesday], he said Jacobs was the front runner,” Hearn wrote in a text message. “Let’s see!”
Golovkin, after fighting Alvarez to a draw and majority decision loss the past two Septembers, is on vacation and is expected to choose upon his return between aligning with the DAZN streaming service that will launch its 11-fight, $365-million deal with Alvarez on Saturday or with Premier Boxing Champions.
“I want to see the Triple-G fight again. Everybody wants to see that fight again,” said De La Hoya, but when asked if that’s a possibility for May, he answered, “No. We’re not sure what Triple-G is going to do yet. We’re not waiting for him. We have our own plans. I definitely want to make that fight relatively soon, but not May.”
De La Hoya’s president of Golden Boy Promotions, Eric Gomez, acted mildly surprised when told De La Hoya was ruling out Jacobs.
Gomez said the opponent could emerge from the winner of Saturday night’s co-main event between former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux of Canada and Tureano Johnson, or World Boxing Organization champion Demetrius Andrade or even two-belt super-middleweight champion Callum Smith.
“I’m here to fight anyone and everyone,” Alvarez said earlier Thursday when asked if he would consider fighting Golovkin, Jacobs or unbeaten middleweight Jermall Charlo. “I always characterize myself as someone who fights with the best fighters to make the best fights for the people. If that’s a fight in the future and we must make it, then we’ll do it.”
De La Hoya said it was his expectation that Alvarez’s May fight, however, will be at middleweight.
“There’s people talking about it being Jacobs in May. No, it’s never going to happen in May,” De La Hoya said. “I have my own plans and I can’t reveal them now.”
Twitter: @latimespugmire
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