Golden Boy Prez: Rats and vultures tempted to sabotage Canelo-Kovalev

Saul & # 39; Canelo & # 39; Alvarez will aim to become a four-time world champion when he faces Sergey Kovalev on November 2nd.

A third meeting between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo had been the subject of rumors but the negotiations had failed, pushing him to move to face the lightweight heavyweight champion WBO Kovalev.

Canelo, whose last fight was a unification victory against fellow middleweight Daniel Jacobs, described Kovalev in a tweet that announced that the clash was "one of the most powerful rivals of this world. division".

Kovalev, 36, has been beaten in three of his last seven bouts, but will not let go of the challenge of facing Canelo, with their clash in Las Vegas.

Canelo's promoter, Eric Gomez of Golden Boy Promotions, explained that the deal was very difficult to conclude – as parties were trying to end the fight.

Top Rank, which has an exclusive content contract with ESPN, has options on Kovalev and a financial fee has been charged to allow Kovalev to deal with Canelo on the DAZN streaming service.

"It has been so difficult," Gomez told Yahoo Sports. "There were a lot of vultures and rats involved who tried to ruin everything. Once cleared of them, we were able to reach an agreement with [Kovalev promoter] Kathy Duva quite quickly, but there were so many outside influences that were trying to sabotage this fight, I could hardly believe it.

"We have been working on it for two and a half months. I thought the negotiations with Golovkin were difficult, but it beats them all. "

Kovalev is not as invincible as he seemed to be a few years ago, but he remains a much bigger man and a dangerous opponent.

"Canelo saw something and, like the big ones, they see things that the rest of us do not see," said Gomez. "I think his best weight is the average weight, but that's the kind of guy who wants to try to take on the toughest challenges that he can."