Trilogies can be great, but there is no guarantee we’re going to get the third fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin this year. That was the message from Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez during a telephone conversation this week.

Golden Boy promotes Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs), who in September won a majority decision over Golovkin at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, taking Golovkin’s two middleweight championship belts. It was a close fight, indeed, scored a draw by yours truly.

It was their first fight – in September 2017 – that ticked off fans and reporters. Golovkin seemed to have won a rather close decision at T-Mobile – we had it 115-113 for GGG – but the judges scored it a split draw. Judge Adalaide Byrd had the absolutely absurd score of 118-110 for Alvarez.

Yeah, the first two fights have no doubt left a sour taste in the mouths of Golovkin and his supporters. But Alvarez is the champion, and he calls the shots. So says Gomez, who was less than impressed with Golovkin’s fourth-round knockout of unheralded Steve Rolls on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

It was Golovkin’s first fight under trainer Johnathon Banks after a bitter split with longtime cornerman Abel Sanchez.

Asked if the third fight between Alvarez and Golovkin will happen in September, Gomez did not hesitate to respond.

“Well, it’s totally at Canelo’s discretion, whatever he wants to do,” Gomez said. “He’s in that position.”

Gomez on Wednesday said he and Golden Boy chairman Oscar De La Hoya were to sit down with Alvarez on Friday to begin discussing the possibilities. Again, Gomez reiterated he and De La Hoya aren’t making this decision.

“There is a whole process we go through,” Gomez said. “It’s not, ‘Hey, you fight this guy. That’s it.’ It’s not like that.”

Gomez was pushed – would he prefer the trilogy happen next, rather than next year?

“I’m good either way,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter. I mean, he already fought him twice. They were great fights; he beat him the second time. It can happen whenever.

“I mean, there are some other good challenges out there as well, so it doesn’t really matter. We’re going to do whatever Canelo wants to do.”

It’s been interesting to keep an eye on social media. Some seem to be clamoring for another go-round, others not so much.

“It’s really split,” Gomez said. “Yeah, the Golovkin fans are going to want it because of whatever – they can’t stomach the fact that Canelo won. They want it. But it’s split.

“There are a lot of fans that have reached out to us that have said, ‘Hey, there’s a Callum Smith fight.’ That’s a great fight, the Callum Smith fight.”

Smith (26-0, 19 KOs) is an undefeated super middleweight champion from England. Alvarez in December did move up to super middleweight and took Rocky Fielding’s title with a third-round TKO, and the feeling here is Smith would be a more formidable opponent than Fielding.

Here’s the thing – while it’s understandable Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs) wanted to take an easier opponent in his first fight since the hard-to-swallow loss to Alvarez nine months ago, dispatching Rolls did little to nothing for him.

At least as far as Gomez is concerned.

“He didn’t have a top-level opponent in there, or one of the other champions,” Gomez said. “So it’s really hard to gauge where he is exactly. He did what he was supposed to do – get rid of a guy that shouldn’t have been in there with him.

“I think if he would have done that against a top-level opponent, or one of the other champions, that would have been very impressive. But it is what it is. You can throw that performance out.”

Keep in mind that while Alvarez is only 28, Golovkin is 37. If we don’t get the trilogy this year or by next May at the latest, it may never happen.

Shields back in August

Two-division world champion Claressa Shields (9-0, 2 KOs) will move down to junior middleweight to take on Ivana Habazin on Aug. 17 from Dort Federal Event Center in Shields’ hometown of Flint, Mich. (on Showtime).

On the line will be a vacant 154-pound title. Shields will be trying to win a title in a third weight class sooner than anyone.

“It’s hard to even put into words how excited I am to be returning home as undisputed champion and fighting in front of all my fans in Flint,” Shields said. “And having the opportunity to become world champion, in a third weight division faster than any man or woman in boxing history, will make Aug. 17 a night I will cherish forever.”

Habazin, of Croatia, is 20-3 with seven knockouts.

Etc.

Former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) of England on Saturday will take on Tom Schwarz (24-0, 16 KOs) of Germany from MGM Grand in Las Vegas (on ESPN+). Fury is coming off a split draw with champion Deontay Wilder in December at Staples Center. … Andrew Cancio (20-4-2, 15 KOs) of Blythe next Friday will defend his junior lightweight title against Alberto Machado (21-1, 17 KOs) of Puerto Rico from Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio (on DAZN). Cancio took the title from Machado there via fourth-round knockout in February.