FILE – Boxers Canelo Alvarez (L) and Gennady Golovkin pose with their promoters, trainers and actorhost Mario Lopez after a news conference at Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live to announce their upcoming rematch on February 27, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images/AFP
Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin will square off in their highly-anticipated rematch on September 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya said on Wednesday.
“I’m happy to inform that we have a fight September 15!!!!,” De La Hoya tweeted.
The two fighters had been due to fight each other in Las Vegas on May 5 before the middleweight bout was canceled after Alvarez failed two drugs tests.
So unified middleweight world champion Golovkin instead fought Vanes Martirosyan on May 5 in a one-sided fight that ended in less than two rounds. Martirosyan, who hadn’t fought in nearly two years, lost by second-round knockout at StubHub Center in Los Angeles.
Golovkin and Alvarez fought to a controversial draw in their first meeting in September in a fight that generated 1.3 million pay-per-view buys and a $27 million gate — the third largest in boxing history. Many thought Golovkin won the fight but one judge scored it even and the other two were split between giving it to Golovkin and Alvarez.
With Alvarez free to fight once his six-month suspension ends in August, the two rivals had been expected to fight again in September.
But talks stalled because Alvarez’s camp were reportedly not happy with middleweight world champion Golovkin’s insistence on receiving a 50/50 split in revenues.
The announcement comes a week after De La Hoya said that the talks for a rematch had ended and that Alvarez would likely fight Daniel Jacobs instead.
Mexico’s Alvarez, 27, resumed training recently for what will be his first fight in almost exactly a year.
Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday that he believes a rematch will generate more interest than the first fight.
“It’s a much bigger fight with all the controversy that has gone on and no love lost between the guys,” Loeffler said.
“In the first fight, it was a respectful promotion, but in the second fight, with the positive test and the way Gennady had to scramble to be able to fight on May 5, he is very edgy. Canelo is very edgy, so I think that’s going to get things heated up.”
The final terms of the agreement or details of the purse split were not released.