Negotiations have started for an exciting fight between superstar Canelo Alvarez and Sergiy Derevyanchenko for September 14 at 168 on DAZN. It’s not a certainty that Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs) will get the fight with mega-star Canelo (53-1-2, 36 KOs), but it has a lot of boxing fans excited at the prospect of seeing these two go at it.
The casual boxing fans won’t mind that Canelo isn’t fighting a true super middleweight. 168 is such a barren division as it is, the fans won’t care that Canelo faces Derevyanchenko.
With September only three months away, Golden Boy Promotions must nail down an opponent for Canelo right away. They need to announce the fight and start training. Canelo fights on DAZN, and they need to have the match announced so that they can begin advertising to bring back their subscribers.
Derevyanchenko a better option for Canelo
Golden Boy Promotions is probably getting a better deal with Derevyanchenko as opposed to Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders, both of which are said to have wanted a lot of money to fight Canelo.
Certainly, Saunders and Callum are both world champions, but you can argue that Derevyanchenko is a better fighter than both. To the American fans, they’re more familiar with Derevyanchenko than they are Saunders or Callum Smith, thanks to his recent performance against Gennady Golovkin.
It wouldn’t be a good time for Canelo to fight Saunders after the disturbing video he put out on social media. It’s a good idea that Canelo distance himself from Saunders right now.
Derevyanchenko could take the spot that was previously occupied by Billy Joe Saunders as Canelo’s next opponent. Saunders had his May 2 fight with Canelo wiped out by the pandemic, and it was just bad luck.
Derevyanchenko might turn out to be a much better fight for Canelo, as he has a more entertaining style of fighting than Saunders, who tends to spoil and make it ugly.
The 2008 Olympian Derevyanchenko had his coming out party with his recent questionable 12 round decision loss to Gennadiy Golovkin last October in New York.
Although Derevyanchenko lost the fight, he performed well enough to deserve the decision, and he won over the crowd. That was the critical part. After the match, the fans booed the decision and let Golovkin know that he didn’t deserve the win.
Derevyanchenko outhustled Golovkin and got the better of him with his body shots. Andre Rozier, the trainer for Derevyanchenko, came up with a good game plan in attacking Golovkin with body shots.
Derevyanchenko lives in the States in the New York area, and he won’t be impacted by the travel ban that’s in place.
Canelo vs. GGG 3 in 2021
“Sources: Canelo Alvarez-Sergiy Derevyanchenko in talks for Sept. 14 at 168. Canelo was set to fight Billy Joe Saunders, DAZN’s preferred May 2 foe, before pandemic hit. Other opponents being considered for Canelo, but it won’t be GGG. Unlikely to see Canelo-GGG 3 until early 2021
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) June 3, 2020
Some boxing fans thought Canelo ducked Derevyanchenko in 2019 when he was his IBF mandatory. Canelo was stripped of his WBO title when he failed to fight Derevyanchenko. The Golden Boy star missed the deadline, and it cost him the IBF title.
Golovkin then fought Derevyanchenko and beat him by a controversial decision last October to win Canelo’s old belt.
How will Derevyanchenko do at 168?
Derevyanchenko shouldn’t have any problem with going up an additional eight pounds to meet Canelo at 168. It helped Canelo gain more strength when he moved up from 160, so it should be the same situation for Derevyanchenko.
During Derevyanchenko’s six-year pro career, he’s beaten Tureano Johnson, Jack Culcay, Sam Soliman, and Kemahl Russell. If not for the judging, you could add Golovkin’s name to that list.
