Despite laying down the law of a non-negotiable split, De La Hoya eventually relaxed his stance at the eleventh hour as Golovkin threatened to negate on signing his portion of the deal.
Eventually, all sides agreed to give Canelo a slight advantage in the purse stakes and the fans can now look ahead to massive return on September 15.
Dissecting the process, De La Hoya stated he was happy to do what was necessary to seal the deal.
“The negotiations are the negotiations. The bottom line is that we have a fight. Obviously, we know who the A side is, and that’s Canelo Alvarez,” pointed out De La Hoya.
“We obviously know that all of Mexico is behind Canelo Alvarez. Everywhere I go, everywhere we walk, the Mexican National is behind Canelo Alvarez, and I strongly believe that, look, Canelo going into the ring last, wanting to win those belts, for honor and pride.
“You know, he’s going to show it up in the ring, and we strongly feel that you know, it’s a big advantage and once that first bell rings, you know, we have a fight.
“So we strongly feel that, look, whatever the negotiations were, we’re extremely happy with and the fans are going to be even happier when they see a fight on September 15.”
On making sure the fight took place on Mexican Independence Day weekend, De La Hoya outlined a Vegas show on that date was a given.
“That was the big hail maker — I mean, you know, we can all here talk about percentages and this and that but there was a few things that I had to throw in myself,” he said.
“But the bottom line is, is that look, Canelo has the bigger piece of the pie, and because he’s the champion, he’s the draw. He’s the one that brings in the people. On September 15, you will have millions and millions of fans supporting Canelo and supporting GGG, as well.
“But this fight had to be made because we didn’t want to experience another Hagler/Hearns or Hagler/Sugar Ray Leonard because we didn’t see the second fight that didn’t take place. We didn’t want to see – like Trinidad and myself, we didn’t see the second fight.
“So this fight had to take place. The first time was a draw and finally we have it. September 15, will be such an important day for boxing.
“I strongly feel that the way this fight is going to turn out, the fans are going to be extremely happy, extremely proud and boxing will once again rise to the pinnacle of where it should be,” he added.
The event will take place Saturday, Sept. 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
Tickets for Canelo vs. GGG 2 are on sale now, and are priced at $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800, $700, $500 and $300, not including applicable service charges and taxes. There will be a limit of eight (8) per person at the $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800 and $700 price levels with a limit of two (2) per person at the $500 and $300 price levels.
To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.t-mobilearena.com or www.axs.com.
