by Steve Kim

For a period of time this afternoon as the noon deadline passed for Gennady Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) to accept the amended deal offered to him by Golden Boy Promotions to face Saul "Canelo" Alvarez on September 15th, this fight was considered dead by both parties.

There was a monetary split of 57.5-42.5 on the table for Golovkin, which he rejected.

Eventually, this fight was saved and they will face each other once again in a few months.

But what was the alternative for Golovkin if he would've held firm on his stance, who would have been his next opponent?

Tom Loeffler, the head of GGG Promotions told BoxingScene.com - "we were going to go clearly in the direction of Billy Joe Saunders. I have to give Saunders credit, they had already accepted the offer It had already got to that point where I had made a firm offer to Frank Warren, which they accepted because I didn't think there was a way to make this work."

Saunders was an attractive option for Golovkin because he holds the WBO middleweight title.

According to Loeffler this match-up would've taken place on August 25th at the Forum near Los Angeles. But as a 'Hail Mary' saved Canelo-GGG II. Saunders lost his opportunity to face Golovkin, who still holds the WBA, IBO and WBC titles.

"I was always upfront with them,'' explained Loeffler.

"They knew that Canelo was the priority but I also told them we wouldn't have made the offer if we thought the Canelo fight was going to get made. So we give Billy Joe Saunders credit for wanting the fight, be willing to unify. It would've been a great promotion, two undefeated champions fighting each other and if Triple G is successful against Canelo - that would be his priority with Saunders."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.