(LOS ANGELES) ? Ring Magazine and Lineal Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez yesterday issued the following statement:
“After much consideration, today, I instructed my team at Golden Boy Promotions to continue negotiating a fight with Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin and to finalize a deal as quickly as possible. I also informed the WBC that I will vacate its title. For the entirety of my career, I have taken the fights that no one wanted because I fear no man. Never has that been more true than today. I will fight ‘GGG’ and I will beat ‘GGG’, but I will not be forced into the ring by artificial deadlines. I am hopeful that by putting aside this ticking clock, the two teams can now negotiate this fight, and ‘GGG’ and I can get in the ring as soon as possible and give the fans the fight they want to see.”
Next up, was Golden Boy Promotions Chairman and CEO Oscar De La Hoya, who yesterday issued the following statement:
“There is no denying that Canelo is the biggest star in the sport of boxing. He is eager to get in the ring with ‘GGG’ to show the world that he is also the best pound for pound fighter in the sport, but we won?t negotiate under a forced deadline. Now that the WBC title is off the table, I am hopeful that ‘GGG’ and his promoter K2 Promotions will come to the table in good faith and get this deal done.”
And just like that– there goes that.
Let’s be really frank here: Oscar De La Hoya didn’t want this fight and ‘GGG’ has proven once again to be simply bad timing for the elite fighter in boxing. That’s basically what you just read in those statements. What Alvarez is most likely about to do is pick apart vestiges of the welterweight division once again, for its hard not to imagine this move doesn’t clear the way for a Pacquiao vs. Canelo superfight.
Since his brutal dismissal of James Kirkland last May, Alvarez has spent the better part of a year preparing for essentially big welterweights (Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, and now, presumably, Manny Pacquiao) – which has nothing to do with the likes of ‘GGG’. We all saw and heard him in the ring with HBO’s Max Kellerman after flattening Khan, and Canelo sounded like he wanted to get at Golovkin right then and there.
“Listen, we don’t f*** around in Mexico,” said a brash and bold Alvarez, staring directly at a smiling Golovkin. “We run from no one. I have no problems with 160, and I’ll fight you tonight.”
But as real as Canelo was (and probably is), De La Hoya had other ideas, as in the “not-right-now” variety. Abel Sanchez, ‘GGG’ trainer who held court with the media inside T-Mobile Arena after Canelo/Khan, told this writer: “I don’t give a damn what he (Canelo) says or [Oscar] says, they don’t want to fight us under no circumstances- and you can print that.”
Copy that.
For Golovkin, Sanchez and many of you in the public, this talk has been cheap in a few ways. For starters, after having KO’d a fighter in Khan who assumed a huge risk in going up to face him, its not fair to boxing or Canelo himself to avoid ‘GGG’. We know he hates the notion of ‘ducking’ Golovkin, but it is what it is. If Khan could face Alvarez, than Alvarez should be able to face GGG at 160 for a bona-fide middleweight championship bout. Then, if he has the audacity to face Pacquiao next– who would be assuming an even greater risk than Khan (Pacquiao has never really been more than a super lightweight if we’re being real), then critics will rightfully point out the contradiction and call him out for being a “diva”.
The statement made by both De La Hoya and Canelo was arrogant, as they disrespected fans lied to about intentions to make this fight; they insulted the WBC, its title, and even the history of boxing. Golden Boy reneged on deals and time extensions/dealines to put GGG and Canelo in the ring on at least two occasions, Then again, it was the WBC that started all of this madness, by allowing diva’s Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cotto to get involved with 155 lb middleweight championship nonsense.
But let’s pretend Oscar picked up his phone on the Sunday morning following Canelo/Khan and actually made a deal to fight GGG this fall at a full 160 lbs within the 15 day mandate. Canelo would get his chance to prove once and for all that he is not only a legitimate middleweight- but the best in the world. For Golovkin, it would give him a chance to finally be opposite a superstar, while adding to a legacy that’s shaping up to be the best of any middleweight regardless of era.
GGG VS. CANELO: A GOOD OLD FASHIONED BAR ROOM BRAWL IN MEXICO
That’s what it would feel like to the nearly 20,000 fans inside of T-Mobile Arena that witnessed it, for it would be a breathtaking fight. In May 2011, these two fighters sparred with one another for six, four minute rounds that rings differently with both camps now. Jose Reynoso, Canelo’s lead trainer, walked away with a Mayweather-like vibe after chopping it up in the ring with ‘GGG’: He’s straight up and down with no special effects.
A then 21 year-old Canelo was preparing to defend his super welterweight title against Ryan Rhodes, and was using Golovkin for size. According to RING Magazine’s Dougie Fischer, a took very detail-oriented notes on this encounter, Alvarez was able to do a number of things well against Golovkin. He was able to turn the fearsome puncher with subtle movement and got the better of most exchanges. But Fischer was also able to note that Golovkin picked up the pace as the session progressed and visibly shook Canelo on at least two occasions. The most important thing mentioned in his notes was how ‘GGG’ was able to land his jab ‘anytime he wanted to’.
Golovkin, who at the time was set to face off against Kassim Ouma, was a much more rigid, Soviet-oriented fighter around that time, and had not yet been molded by Sanchez into the hybrid terror he is now. Today, he is very much a crazy blend of Julio Cesar Chavez and Kostya Tszyu, to Canelo’s much better version of 80’s star Matthew Hinton. With that being said, if De La Hoya had actually allowed Canelo to follow through with his hubris- and not did his job as his promoter, then Canelo would have gotten beaten up this fall by Golovkin.
There are those who don’t share this opinion, with fellow Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez being one of them. Marquez, on hand for the Khan fight, said in the aftermath that Canelo ‘can outbox Golovkin and get a decision’. I respectfully disagreed with Juan, and told him that’s about as likely as a “Pacquiao vs. Marquez V” bout in the Philippines. Over the course of 12 rounds, I believe Canelo would run into the same problems that Khan had against him. That is, he’d find it difficult to absorb punches from Golovkin through the distance, in a fight that I think he’d be winning after 6 or 7 rounds.
Canelo would even strike Golovkin with one of his signature, sneaky stealth bombs a few times, but the best chin in the sport would walk through it. One of the best attributes about Golovkin’s game is his relaxed balance in the ring. He’s never wound too tight and he see’s punches very well- even the one’s that hit him, as it makes a huge difference in impact. Dishing out his best shots while taking Golovkin’s bricks round after round would drain a heavier Canelo, who isn’t the best stamina guy in the world in the first place.
What I see happening here is a gradual beat down that would morph into an annihilation of Canelo. Consider that in February 2015, an underrated Martin Murray challenged Golovkin as a very seasoned middleweight that came into the ring at a little over 180 lbs on fight night. Murray nearly went the distance with Golovkin but paid a huge price on the way to being stopped via 11th round TKO.
Canelo is more talented than that Murray – but not by a lot – and he’s certainly not physically stronger than Murray was, who again, was fully acclimated to middleweight unlike the former 155 lb middleweight, uh, champ. The better pure fighter (GGG) would simply overwhelm the more talented boxer (Canelo), as the sometimes flat feet of Alvarez would doom and ultimately freeze him. Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin would perform a very patient and methodical form of surgery on a very game Canelo, before Eddy and Jose Reynoso threw in the towels during the 11th round.
