Golovkin signs deal with DAZN
GGG heading toward trilogy with Canelo
Mar 11, 2019, 6:34 am
Former lineal middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will spend his next six fights on streaming service DAZN. (Photo courtesy of HBO Boxing)
After nearly six months of uncertainty, former middleweight titleist Gennady Golovkin is ready to move on with his career. According to media reports Golovkin has signed a six-fight deal with streaming service DAZN.
Golovkin's last 17 fights have been affiliated with HBO. But Golovkin's HBO deal expired in 2018, and shortly thereafter the network announced they were getting out of the boxing business. DAZN has signed several former HBO fighters, most notably Canelo Alvarez. Golovkin making the move to DAZN all but guarantees a third fight between Canelo and GGG will occur later this year. Canelo and Golovkin fought to a draw in September of 2017. Canelo won the rematch via split decision in 2018, though many ringside bystanders felt Golovkin deserved the nod. The $10 per month streaming service has operated under the marketing slogan of "death to pay-per-view" offering future fights for Canelo, GGG and heavyweight titleist Anthony Joshua all for the cost of a subscription.
Canelo signed his 11 fight deal with DAZN in October, and has already completed his first fight with the network in December in a victory over Rocky Fielding. Golovkin's deal is for six fights. He will likely also get a soft touch in his first fight with the network. Speculation suggests that GGG will return to the ring in June before his third fight with Canelo in September on Mexican Independence Day weekend.
Along with the third fight with Canelo, DAZN's deal with Golovkin reportedly includes ownership stake in the service, along with multiple dates for Golovkin's GGG Promotions. If Golovkin fights twice per year the six-fight deal will keep Golovkin with DAZN through age 39, which would likely be the end of his career.
The signing of Golovkin means the top four fighters as middleweight are aligned with DAZN. Daniel Jacobs and Billy Joe Saunders also fight for DAZN under Matchroom Boxing. Jacobs will challenge Canelo for his lineal middleweight title in May. Golovkin beat Jacobs in a tight unanimous decision victory in March of 2017. Saunders now becomes a likely opponent for all three. All four being with DAZN is excellent news for fans of boxing, because fights for the top four fighters in the division should be easy to make.
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Marcell Ozuna hit his major league-leading eighth homer and Orlando Arcia’s RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
It completes a three-game sweep of the struggling Astros and is Atlanta’s fourth straight victory.
The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4-4. Michael Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and there was one out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.
Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.
Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a fly out by Yainer Diaz but Jeremy Peña grounded into a double play to end it.
A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win and Raisel Iglesias earned his fifth save.
Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. added his first homer of the season to help the Braves to the victory. Ozuna also leads the majors with 23 RBIs and he extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the longest active streak in the majors.
Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubón both homered for the Astros, who fell to 6-14 and are last in the AL West.
There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats in left field to put Houston up 1-0.
Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off the wall and tied the game.
Acuña put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning to straightaway center field.
The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth and Kyle Tucker’s RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.
Dubón hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houston’s sixth and push the lead to 4-2.
Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman José Abreu when he couldn’t grab a routine ground ball.
There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia to tie it at 4-all.
Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.
Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings.
UP NEXT
Braves: Atlanta is off Thursday before opening a series against Texas on Friday night with LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound.
Astros: Houston is also off Thursday before ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night against Washington. The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder.