Talks for a rematch between undefeated middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and Mexican boxing hero Canelo Alvarez are expected to begin in the coming days, the US media reported Saturday.
Golovkin, who was making his Las Vegas debut, and Alvarez fought to a draw on Saturday in a evenly-matched bout that lived up to its hype as a showdown between the top two middleweights in the world.
Both the 27-year-old challenger Alavarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) and the 35-year-old Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) said they wanted a rematch.
"It seemed like everyone came away from that fight with an unsatisfied feeling," Tom Loeffler, of K2 Promotions which oversees Golovkin's fights, told the Los Angeles Daily News.
Until his last two fights, which both went the distance, Golovkin had been jackhammering his way through the middleweight division. In March, he showed he could go the distance and win over Daniel Jacobs but their 12-round fight snapped a string of 23 consecutive knockouts for Golovkin.
Golovkin and Alvarez now look set to rule the resurgent middleweight division for years after their slugfest ended in a stalemate.
Judge Don Trella had it 114-114 while Dave Moretti scored it 115-113 in favour of Golovkin of Kazakhstan.
Golovkin got his first taste of Nevada-style judging in his Sin City debut, when the third judge, Adalaid Byrd, scored the nail-biter 118-110 in favour of Alvarez.
"He's in the big fight business these days," said Golovkin's trainer Abel Sanchez. "He's 35 and it's time to have great events like we did the other night."