Loeffler talks closing the deal on Canelo-Golovkin rematch

Promoter Tom Loeffler discusses how negotiations for Canelo-Golovkin 2 finally crossed the finish line.

In this video interview with K2’s Tom Loeffler, caught by Fight Hub TV fight after they closed the deal, the promoter discusses the sequence of events that eventually lead to a rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin getting done and why he says it’s a fair deal for both sides.

“It was a rollercoaster...Eric [Gomez] and I were on the phone early this morning, we were trying to figure out a solution. We were very close but on a big fight like this you never know. Unless you have everything agreed, it’s not gonna happen. And GGG stuck with his principles and he wanted, as a respect for the champion, he wanted to have what he was asking for, and Canelo was on his side.

“12 o’clock noon today it wasn’t gonna happen. I was very frustrated — disappointed really. We were already making calls to put the fight together with GGG and BIlly Joe Saunders, with the unification fight, and about an hour later Eric called back — and they were already going in the direction of Danny Jacobs — but Eric called back and had a new suggestion, said ‘what do you think about this, you think GGG will go with this?’ and I said ‘that might work, let me ask him’ and then with about 10 minutes GGG said yes.

“As soon as they met what he was asking for then he was okay with it. He always wanted the fight and it’s a great fight for Canelo. Canelo gets the opportunity to win the titles from GGG that we worked so hard to get and Gennady gets the opportunity to be involved in one of the biggest fights in the sport of boxing. So both guys are great — at that level — they’re great warriors and it’s gonna be a lot of fireworks for September 15th.”

Loeffler on if he thinks they’ve finally reached a fair deal:

“Yeah, I think it’s finally a fair deal and I have to give Gennady a lot of respect. He stood on his principles. It’s a lot of money involved. I was getting nervous, I’m like “Gennady, it’s a lot of money!’ but he said ‘I don’t care. If they don’t agree I’m just gonna go and I’ma fight Billy Joe Saunders, we’ll fight for a unification fight,’ — that’s a big fight too but it’s just not on the same level as a GGG and Canelo fight, for both guys.

“So I really think that the boxing fans are the ones that won in this situation. September 15th, it’s gonna be an international sporting event. It’s not gonna be a boxing match, it’s really gonna be an international sporting event where people are gonna fly in from all over the world and be in Las Vegas, so everyone’s excited about it and we’re really looking forward to that fight.”

On how they worked past the revenue split, with Gennady originally insisting on a 50/50 split:

“Well, you know, Gennady made a lot of concessions with the first fight, just to get Canelo into the ring. If you remember he vacated the WBC title not to fight GGG. So at that point he wasn’t obligated, without the title he wasn’t obligated to fight GGG. So the first fight GGG made a lot of concessions. For the rematch he made concessions. When Canelo got suspended and the fight got canceled GGG was very frustrated and said ‘ok, if he wants to fight me, I’m the champion, it needs to be a 50/50 split.’

“Then as it kept going he said ‘you know what, if Canelo really wants the fight I’ll give him his extra 5% so that he feels like he’s the A-side, even though I’m the champion, he’ll feel like he’s the A-side, they’ll be no excuses and we can make the fight.’ And then we were getting closer and closer but we still didn’t have a deal. So what Oscar said is true, I don’t think they would’ve ever made a fight at 50/50, but at the same time Gennady got what he was asking for at the end. So I think it’s fair for both sides.”