Golden Boy Promotions has added Jason Quigley (18-1, 14 KOs) and Tureano Johnson (21-2-1, 15 KOs) to the list of options for the September 12 fight of Saul Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo’s next match will be on DAZN.
Canelo wants to fight in September and December of this year. So from that perspective, picking a lesser fighter like Quigley or Tureano makes sense. There’s less chance that Canelo will suffer an injury against them, which would make it difficult for him to fight in December.
Tureano is 36-years-old, and he competed in the 2008 Olympics. As a pro, Tureano failed to take his career to the next level as some thought he would.
No one is expecting Canelo to fight a top fighter at 160 or 168, but still, it’s off-putting that Johnson and Quigley are being considered. These are not A-level middleweights. Golden Boy Promotions promote them, and that gives them a good shot at getting the Canelo fight.
It’s unknown if DAZN has a say so in who Canelo picks. If Golden Boy selects Tureano or Quigley for his September fight, it might not bring in the boxing fans to DAZN. Quigley and Tureano aren’t well-known in the U.S by boxing fans. The hardcore fans know of them, but they’re impressed.
Quigley, 29, would be the more comfortable option for Canelo, but there are benefits of him being the opponent. Quigley is from Ireland, so it’ll attract a lot of UK boxing fans if Canelo faces him.
Quigley and Johnson fight at middleweight, and the two of them are below Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the rankings.
Derevyanchenko knocked Tureano in the 12th round in 2017. Since that loss, Tureano has fought twice in being held to a draw by Fernando Castaneda and then beating Quigley by a ninth-round stoppage a year ago.
“We’re not going to close the door, we’re not going to handicap ourselves, especially right now during the pandemic,” said Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez to ESPN.com. ”
You need all the help you can get,” said Gomez, adding that choosing a foe for Alvarez is every much a budgetary issue, as it is about making the most appealing fight.”
The fans feel that if Canelo is going to go the cheap route, he should face John Ryder. At least that guy has done things with his career, and he recently gave WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith fits last November. Callum won a 12 round decision, but the fans picked Ryder as the winner.