BoxRec

According to Mike Coppinger.

Both Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders received offers from Golden Boy Promotions for a fight against Canelo Alvarez on May 2, and both the offers were rejected.

Saunders has got to be quite pleased that he was finally given an offer for the Canelo fight, since he’s been waiting for ages to get a chance to fight him. In some ways, this validates Saunders as a fighter to have Canelo give him an offer.

It’s just cruel fate that the offers that Saunders received wasn’t to his promoter’s liking. It’s predictable that Saunders will hold out for $12 million.

It did seem a little unusual that Callum’s name was the only one mentioned earlier on Thursday in having been given an offer by Golden Boy. Now that it’s been revealed that Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) received an offer too, it makes more sense.

Hearn rejected the offer from Golden Boy to Callum Smith

“We turned down the initial offer but, of course, it’s the fight that Callum wants next,” Hearn said to ESPN..com. “If we feel the offer is right, he will jump at the chance.”

Those two were seen as the leading options for Canelo’s next fight on May 2. It’s likely that Golden Boy will stick it out in the negotiations with those two, and then take the cheaper of the two.

Of course, if they ask for ridiculous money, then Golden Boy might move on. In that case, Golden Boy will probably turn their attention to Jaime Munguia, Demetrius Andrade and Sergiy Derevyanchenko. One of those guys would likely jump at the chance to fight Canelo.

The negotiations are still ongoing between Golden Boy and Saunders and Callum for the Canelo fight on May 2. However, if a deal can’t be reached, then Matchroom will likely go ahead and put together a unification fight between Callum and Saunders for the summer.

Callum and Saunders will fight each other if no Canelo deal

Saunders and Callum are both British fighters, so it makes sense to match them against each other. Eddie Hearn promotes them both, and he’s been eager to put a fight together between them. He’s been holding off waiting to see if Canelo would fight one of the two.

Hearn said last week that they wouldn’t take the fight with Canelo if the offers weren’t ‘fair’ to Saunders or Callum. It seems obvious that Hearn is looking for Saunders or Callum to receive the same money that Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev received to fight Canelo in 2019. Both fighters, world champions at the time Canelo fought them, were given $12 million.

If that’s the kind of money that Hearn is waiting to get for Callum or Saunders before he’ll agree to one of them facing Canelo, he might not get it. Those two British fighters aren’t in the same league name-wise as Jacobs and Kovalev were when Canelo fought them.

There were rumors that Golden Boy asked for a 10-lb rehydration clause for Callum to agree to. However, sources say that wasn’t the case. Golden Boy didn’t ask for a rehydration clause. The fight offer was turned down due to it not being to the liking of Callum’s promoter Eddie Hearn.

It’s not a good situation for Golden Boy that Callum Smith and Saunders share the same promoter in Eddie Hearn. Likewise it’s even worse that Hearn also promotes WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade, because he’ll likely want big money for him too as an opponent for Canelo.

Saunders & Smith not well known in U.S

You can argue that Saunders and Smith are more similar to Rocky Fielding in terms of name recognition. Whatever Fielding got for his fight with Canelo, it would make sense for Saunders and Callum to receive the same. The only upside in Canelo fighting Saunders or Smith is their world titles, and being seen defeating unbeaten guys. That’s it. They’re what you call ‘belt holders,’ and not fighters that have huge fan bases.

If Canelo wanted a more popular fighter that the U.S boxing fans are interested in, he would need to fight one of the Charlo brothers. That wouldn’t be an easy fight for Canelo, and it would be difficult to put it together.

So it Hearn rejecting the offers or did Smith and Saunders reject them?

It says Hearn is holding out for $12m offer for either.

Jacobs and Kovalev received that amount.

Smith and Saunders aren't even that popular in the UK in terms of popularity, mever mind the states.

Whoever watched Canelo vs. Smith/Saunders on DAZN will likely only be Mexican and hardcore Canelo fans.

They're not bigger fights that Jacobs or Kovalev in the States.

The article stated Smith and Saunders should get similar to what Fielding got, (which I heard was around £2m), Who knows..

Smith and Saunders are actual world champions and much better than Fielding.

$12million ?

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, who promotes Alvarez, and Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, who promotes Smith, both told ESPN on Thursday that the initial offer was declined by Smith.

"He's an idiot," De La Hoya said. "Callum Smith is a good fighter and has an amazing shot of beating Canelo and he turns it down?"

"Callum Smith turned down the fight and he would have made three to four times the money he has ever made and he turned it down," said De La Hoya, who declined to say how much Smith was offered. "I wish him all the best and hopefully he can make the same money somewhere else. But Callum Smith, the most dangerous fighter out there at super middleweight, is out there and he's bragging how he wants to fight the best and he turns it down? What's wrong with these fighters? What's happening with the legacies? It's all business now."

Financial packages for the two most recent Alvarez opponents -- Sergey Kovalev and Daniel Jacobs -- were more than $12 million.

Hearn told ESPN he did receive an offer for the fight from Golden Boy "that we didn't accept."

De La Hoya did not say whether another offer would be made to Smith.

"We have a few opponents that we're looking at," De La Hoya said. "We're going to go down the list. And whoever turns it down, on to the next one. These days I can't even mention names because they automatically add zeros to the final number (of dollars they want). I commend Billy Joe Saunders because he went on record saying he wants the fight and would fight Canelo for free, but there are several guys out there.

"I don't want to mention any names from my mouth, but we will work with anybody. We will just keep going down the list. But it's an idiotic mistake on their part to turn down a chance to fight Canelo, the biggest star in boxing, and to make the most money."

Possibly a case of both being too greedy. Its a huge fight that would do wonders for the profile, particularly in America to justify getting monster paydays in future. I know they won't be getting $12 million each to fight each other if that's Hearn's plan if they can't get the money up.

I don’t like promoters like DLH negotiating in public and calling rival parties “idiots.” This is really unprofessional.

If they’re holding out for more than Fielding got, it’s understandable especially given that Smith did Fielding very early.

Obviously Canelo not only holds all the cards but would be a big favourite over either... Yet what frustrates me is he’s like a modern day Sugar Ray Leonard, but his performances are closer to the SRL who came out of retirement after 3 1/2 years, with debatable decisions, fights marred by handicapping... and Canelo is in his prime. In his prime yet doesn’t throw significantly more punches than guys older than him.

It says a lot about modern audiences that Canelo can be a superstar, when mostly he doesn’t fight like one. Feeling in boxing is obviously fighters want the career high payday to fight him, and don’t want to be raped in negotiations.

Autobarn wrote: ↑14 Feb 2020, 08:47 I don’t like promoters like DLH negotiating in public and calling rival parties “idiots.” This is really unprofessional.

If they’re holding out for more than Fielding got, it’s understandable especially given that Smith did Fielding very early.

Obviously Canelo not only holds all the cards but would be a big favourite over either... Yet what frustrates me is he’s like a modern day Sugar Ray Leonard, but his performances are closer to the SRL who came out of retirement after 3 1/2 years, with debatable decisions, fights marred by handicapping... and Canelo is in his prime. In his prime yet doesn’t throw significantly more punches than guys older than him.

It says a lot about modern audiences that Canelo can be a superstar, when mostly he doesn’t fight like one. Feeling in boxing is obviously fighters want the career high payday to fight him, and don’t want to be raped in negotiations.

Canelo is usually a brilliant watch, he hurts people and is nice and aggressive most of the time. That’s a huge part of his popularity I think.

Although you’re not wrong about negotiations and promoters

I wonder what Smith and Saunders actually turned down.

I always think if you are confident of winning, the money shouldn't be a stumbling block. When you win the title your worth will go up and you get more money in the long term, lets face it beating Canelo would guarantee a big earning rematch. I imagine the offers are still in the low millions.

Controversial wrote: ↑14 Feb 2020, 09:51 I always think if you are confident of winning, the money shouldn't be a stumbling block. When you win the title your worth will go up and you get more money in the long term, lets face it beating Canelo would guarantee a big earning rematch. I imagine the offers are still in the low millions.

I doubt they are confident of winning,they would have to school him or stop him to get the nod and that won’t be happening, he’s too good.

Twinkle Toes wrote: ↑14 Feb 2020, 09:49 I wonder what Smith and Saunders actually turned down.

Ya that's the important question

I think Kov turned down the first Canelo offer and ended up with millions and millions more. GGG also turned down a flat fee that was millions less than he eventually got.

As long as two of the three fight each other in their next fight, I'm OK with the outcome.

Is De La Hoya the most credible in this story? He’s alleging that Smith was offered 3 or 4 times more than his biggest purse. Well Smith was in the world boxing super series and made it to the final fight against George Groves, earning approximately £2m for that. Be interesting to see what Smith was actually offered by Golden Boy for the fight. If Smith/Eddie turned down £6-8m then that is daft.

Personally, I think Saunders and Smith should fight each other. The winner will surely get Canelo and have better leverage.

liamlion wrote: ↑14 Feb 2020, 19:46 Is De La Hoya the most credible in this story? He’s alleging that Smith was offered 3 or 4 times more than his biggest purse. Well Smith was in the world boxing super series and made it to the final fight against George Groves, earning approximately £2m for that. Be interesting to see what Smith was actually offered by Golden Boy for the fight. If Smith/Eddie turned down £6-8m then that is daft.

Personally, I think Saunders and Smith should fight each other. The winner will surely get Canelo and have better leverage.

If it turns out it really was 6-8 mil they must be nuts to turn down that sort of money. Who do they think they are exactly? Saunders has been asking for this fight for so long now, what exactly does he want here, is he going to risk losing the fight to try and get an extra mil on top?

If either were truely confident of winning, they would take it for half of that.

.

Smith should be rematching Ryder. He's not really in a position to be turning these type of fights down and he's lucky he's even in the picture!

BJS needs a big fight like this or his career is gonna go down the Kell Brook route...

liamlion wrote: ↑14 Feb 2020, 19:46 Is De La Hoya the most credible in this story? He’s alleging that Smith was offered 3 or 4 times more than his biggest purse. Well Smith was in the world boxing super series and made it to the final fight against George Groves, earning approximately £2m for that. Be interesting to see what Smith was actually offered by Golden Boy for the fight. If Smith/Eddie turned down £6-8m then that is daft.

Personally, I think Saunders and Smith should fight each other. The winner will surely get Canelo and have better leverage.

Fielding got 1.5m usd....they have probably started at 2.5-3m and both guys are looking for 5m plus.

They are both undefeated champions....ring magazine for Smith.

Oscar will be under pressure as there was rumours Canelo wasn’t happy and DAZN will want massive fight for Cinco date.....Murata won’t be what DAZN are looking for and you can bet Eddie knows that as well under same banner.

I believe Callum Smith received around £5m got winning the WBSS. He probably wants similar paydays.

I think canelo would wreck Smith ,BJS would be a good fight I'd pick him to beat both canelo and Smith

They'd both beat Bill

If you were sat at home and someone knocked on your door with say 5 million quid, and said you can take that or i might come back in a couple of weeks with 12 million, or you may never hear from me again. What would you do?

Old bones Ian wrote: ↑15 Feb 2020, 07:05 If you were sat at home and someone knocked on your door with say 5 million quid, and said you can take that or i might come back in a couple of weeks with 12 million, or you may never hear from me again. What would you do?

take the 5m today........all day long

short term loss for long term gain, beat canello and then you hold the big bargaining chips. if you dont think you can beat him then accept the offer anyway.

i have a feeling Hearn is thinking of matchrooms bank account more than his fighters. if the fights now dont happen...it is Hearns fault. Canello is the main player.

I'm sure BJS has said in an interview that he'd fight Canelo for free before!