Opinion: Whom Should ‘GGG’ and ‘Canelo’ Fight Next?

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.

It’s looking highly unlikely that we will see a Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin fight this year. And that’s a shame because it’s the fight that every boxing fan wants to see. But a myriad of reasons -- most that fans have blamed Team Canelo for -- will prevent us from seeing that fight in 2016. In the interim, what should each fighter do? I have an idea …

Whom GGG Should Fight Next: Erislandy Lara

Why: Well, this is easy. Even though Lara recent fought at 154 pounds, he’s the only fighter who has been adamant in calling out the savage knockout artist. With another victory in the books when he took home a decision against Vanes Martirosyan last weekend, Lara has proven to be the man at junior middleweight. Unfortunately, his Cuban amateur style leaves much to be desired in terms of action.

Lara needs a big name. At 33 years of age, he’s not getting any younger and his style isn’t exactly one that will have viewers scrambling to make his fights appointment viewing. But there’s no doubt that he’s good at what he does. And if he’s willing to fight GGG, why deny him?

But there’s also another narrative here where Lara is the perfect name for GGG to put on his resume when it comes to negotiating. The Cuban’s resume is impressive. One can argue that he should be undefeated (although many believe he received a gift from the judges when his fight with Carlos Molina ended in a draw). Nevertheless, he’s has yet to be dominated by any opponent and his portfolio includes the likes of Alfredo Angulo, Paul Williams, Austin Trout and Canelo Alvarez.

The last name mentioned is obviously the most important because Lara lost a very controversial split decision to Alvarez in 2014. If GGG wants to leverage his power, an impressive outing against Lara will certainly play well in the public eye. More importantly, Lara gives Golovkin a credible opponent to add to his resume. Beating the hell out of somebody who gave Canelo such a difficult time would bode well for the middleweight boxing champion. No other middleweight will give him that kind of clout.

This is almost a no brainer. As long as something can be worked out for Lara to appear on HBO, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Whom Canelo Should Fight Next: Jermall Charlo

Why: OK, the likelihood of this happening is slim because both Charlos are Showtime fighters while Canelo is an HBO fighter, but let’s toss politics out of the window for a moment.

People tend to forget that Canelo is also running out of credible opponents. And although he’s unwilling to fight at the middleweight limit, he simply cannot continue beating on blown up welterweights any longer. If he’s ever going to fight Golovkin, he needs a real test. And if he’s not ready to fight at 160 pounds, a fight with IBF junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo makes a lot of sense. In his clash against Trout (who Canelo also squeezed by), Charlo looked like a rather big junior middleweight and he teased the possibility of moving up to become a full fledged middleweight. A fight with fellow honeymooning junior middleweight in Canelo works because it could be fought at a catchweight of 158 pounds and Canelo would still be protected because Charlo isn’t a huge puncher. However, Charlo would be a threat to Canelo. It would provide the credibility the Mexican has lost by beating up on smaller fighters and knocking off a rising star would look good on his resume.

Obviously, there are a ton of things working against this fight happening. Not only the HBO/Showtime dilemma, but there’s also the fact that Charlo is still looking to make a name for himself and Premier Boxing Champions may not be interested in seeing their twin take a loss just yet.

So, there’s you have it. A couple of fights for a couple of athletes who are slowly walking toward each other and Canelo is undoubtedly moving a lot slower than Golovkin). They both need interim fights to keep the public interested and both Lara and Charlo are names that are both formidable and credible.

But this is boxing, we already know that what’s logical almost never happens.

Oh well …

Andreas Hale is the editorial content director of 2DopeBoyz.com, co-host of the boxing, MMA and pro wrestling podcast “The Corner” and a regular columnist for Sherdog.com. You can follow on Twitter for his random yet educated thoughts on combat sports, music, film and popular culture.