Golovkin and Alvarez to meet in highly anticipated rematch in September

Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin will square off in their highly anticipated rematch in September in Las Vegas, boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya said Wednesday.

De La Hoya announced the tentative deal for a mid-September showdown at T-Mobile Arena after weeks of on-again and off-again bargaining by the two fighters’ camps.

“I’m happy to inform that we have a fight September 15 !!!! ,” De La Hoya tweeted.

Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler Said, “Rematch is on! @GGGBoxing will be even more dominant on Sept 15 for all that #nonsense! Biggest Fight of the Year!”

There was no word on Wednesday about the details of the agreement or even if a contract has been signed.

The two fighters had been due to fight each other in Las Vegas on May 5 before the middleweight bout was canceled after Alvarez failed two drug tests.

So unified middleweight world champion Golovkin instead fought Vanes Martirosyan on May 5 in a one-sided fight that ended in less than two rounds. Martirosyan, who hadn’t fought in nearly two years, barely landed a punch on Golovkin, who scored a vicious knockout at StubHub Center in Los Angeles.

Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) and Alvarez fought to a controversial draw in their first meeting in September in a fight that generated 1.3 million pay-perview buys and a $27 million gate – the third largest in boxing history. Many thought Golovkin won the fight but one judge scored it even and the other two were split between giving it to Golovkin and Alvarez.

With Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) free to fight once his six-month suspension ends in August, the two rivals had been expected to fight again in September.

But talks stalled because Alvarez’s camp were reportedly not happy with middleweight world champion Golovkin’s insistence on receiving a 50/50 split in revenues.