Gennady Golovkin/Photo courtesy of K2 Promotions

Remember when it was announced recently that Golden Boy Promotions and K2 Promotions agreed that Gennady Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will fight each other in September 2017? It was a handshake accord. Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, does.

Sanchez also remembers a handshake deal being struck for Golovkin to fight super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez the first half of next year. That deal was made with K2 – which promotes Golovkin – and Bob Arum, who promotes Ramirez under his Top Rank Inc. banner,

Guess which one Sanchez believes will come to fruition? Based on Alvarez giving up his WBC middleweight belt rather than fight Golovkin this year, that’s an easy answer.

“Let me tell you this: Supposedly, there was a handshake agreement between Bob Arum and (K2’s) Tom (Loeffler) for a Ramirez fight, and a handshake agreement – supposedly, according to Oscar (De La Hoya of Golden Boy) – for the ‘Canelo’ fight for September of 2017,” Sanchez said by phone Tuesday. “I would venture to say that I’d be more likely to believe there’s a handshake agreement with Bob Arum than there is for the ‘Canelo’ fight.

“So I would venture to say ‘Zurdo’ is a possibility for next year.”

One can’t blame Sanchez for not being a believer in the handshake agreement for Golovkin-Alvarez. It was Alvarez who called out Golovkin after Alvarez knocked out Amir Khan in May at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Alvarez said he would fight Golovkin, who was there, right then and that he would do it at 160 pounds. Previously, Alvarez and Golden Boy – which promotes Alvarez – had said a fight with Golovkin would have to be at a catch-weight of 155 pounds.

Then Alvarez gave up his belt rather than adhere to a deadline set by the WBC for the ordered fight with Golovkin. Then came the news that there would be no Golovkin-Alvarez fight for well over another year.