Canelo vs Golovkin talks have started, purse bid would come May 24

The World Boxing Council (WBC) has formally issued a letter to the promoters for both Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, giving the two sides 15 days from Monday to come to an agreement. If there is no agreement reached, the fight would go to purse bid on May 24.

Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KO) successfully defend the WBC middleweight title last Saturday, knocking out Amir Khan in the sixth round. Golovkin (35-0, 32 KO), who holds the WBA and IBF belts, wiped out IBF mandatory Dominic Wade in two rounds on April 23.

One issue has been weight, as Alvarez has been fighting at 155-pound catchweights, while Golovkin and his trainer Abel Sanchez have repeatedly said he will not accept any catchweight, as the WBC contract they agreed to last year called for a middleweight title fight, with the normal limit of 160 pounds. Sanchez and Golovkin have even indicated that they don't care if that means that Alvarez has to vacate the title instead of actually fight them.

Canelo gave the impression after his win over Khan that he would fight Golovkin at 160 pounds, but also carefully chose his words in saying so, so there remains some doubt that this fight is actually going to happen. If it does happen in 2016, it's expected to come on Saturday, September 17, which is the other traditional big fight weekend in boxing, along with Cinco de Mayo weekend.