GGG’s promoter confident he can make deal for megafight with Canelo Alvarez

How good a negotiator is Tom Loeffler?

We’re about to find out.

The promoter of middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin said it’s time to give boxing fans the fight they want and that there should be no excuses why Canelo Alvarez would duck fighting his guy.

“He says he’ll fight at 160 (pounds) which is what we’ve been saying all along,” Loeffler said Monday. “But we have to get that in writing from Canelo and that is where everything begins and ends. Gennady is not going to fight him at less than 160.”

Loeffler spoke briefly with Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya on Sunday and they agreed to talk at length today. The World Boxing Council, which has Alvarez as its world middleweight champion and Golovkin as interim champ, has mandated that an agreement must be reached within 15 days or the fight would go to a purse bid. However, if negotiations are moving toward an agreement and the May 23 deadline is looming, the WBC can easily grant an extension

“I think Canelo is an honorable person who wants to do to the right thing and I believe he has respect for the history of boxing and the WBC’s rules,” Loeffler said of Alvarez, who is coming off a big win Saturday after knocking out Amir Khan in the sixth round in the first boxing card at T-Mobile Arena. “He’s on a high right now after what he did Saturday and when you look at Gennady’s performance two weeks ago (a second-round KO of Dominic Wade), the time is now to make this fight happen.”

Loeffler said his company has done business with Golden Boy and he believes a deal can be made for Golovkin-Alvarez.

“I’m optimistic,” he said. “Everyone wants the fight to happen. And as long as everyone negotiates in good faith, there’s no reason we can’t get a deal done. Both fighters are with HBO. Both fighters are on-board with VADA for drug testing. There’s certainly no lack of venues and cities to hold this fight.

“We want to do what’s right for the middleweight division. That means a fight for all the belts at the middleweight weight of 160 pounds.”

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow on Twitter: @stevecarprj