According to World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, he held a meeting on Tuesday Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez, to finally end the hostility between the sanctioning body and Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.
In 2016, Canelo and the WBC had a falling out - when the sanctioning body tried to force his hand to make a mandatory defense of the middleweight title against Gennady Golovkin.
Canelo, who at the time was on trial in Florida in a promotional dispute with All Star Boxing, was angered over being rushed by sanctioning body.
In response to the WBC's pressure, Canelo vacated the middleweight and returned to 154-pounds, where he captured the WBO title from Liam Smith. Canelo then formed a strong alliance with the WBO, which is based in Puerto Rico.
In May of 2017, Canelo rejected the idea of fighting for a WBC commemorative title in the fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
And even in the first fight with Golovkin, Canelo refused to fight for the WBC belt and went as far as to issue a press release to announce that he would only challenge GGG for the IBF, WBA titles.
Canelo claimed Sulaiman was siding up to Golovkin and ** statements that the Mexican star was avoiding that contest.
Sulaiman indicates that both sides were able work out their differences.
"He will fight for the belt," Sulaiman told the Los Angeles Times. "A proud, legendary WBC champion [Golovkin] and a proud, legendary WBC fighter [Alvarez] will come together. Things happen in boxing. You turn the page and move on to greater things."
"It was a just matter of shaking hands and moving on. I feel like we've worked in good faith. We are not evil people, and I think all we've tried to do is support [Alvarez. Face to face, I will try to say that and I hope we can move on."
2023-10-20 12:44:46
