Golovkin: I’m ready for Canelo and Cotto right now!

By Boxing News - 05/17/2015 - Comments

1-GGG (2)By Dan Ambrose: After blasting out the hapless Willie Monroe Jr. (19-2, 6 KOs) last Saturday night at the Forum in Inglewood, California, IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) pronounced that he’s ready for WBC middleweight belt holder Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) right now, not far off into the future once these two fighters feel that there’s sufficient interest in a fight against Golovkin.

“No. Not for the future. I’m ready right now! I’m ready for Canelo and Cotto,” Golovkin said after last night’s 6th round demolition of the 28-year-old Monroe.

Unfortunately, the 24-year-old Canelo, who has fought his last three fights at middleweight and who rehydrates to roughly the same weight as Golovkin when he fights at junior middleweight, doesn’t share the same interest in wanting to fight the hard hitting Golovkin. Canelo once again said that he’s not interested in moving up to middleweight at this time.

A cocky sounding Canelo said this on his twitter last night: “When the day comes for me to move up to 160 I will face the best in the division. Sincerely and with humility I don’t see any real competition for me. Greetings to everyone!”

If Canelo doesn’t see any competition for him in the middleweight division, it suggests that he’s not looking at a fight against Golovkin because the Kazakhstan fighter appears to be the far better fighter of the two. Canelo looked gassed out last week in the 2nd round against a very, very limited fighter in James Kirkland. Canelo doesn’t look like he’s improved at all since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013, and many boing fans still believe that Canelo was beaten by Erislandy Lara in July 2014.

Canelo also has a controversial win over Austin Trout. The Trout and Lara fights were both close fights for Canelo and far from dominant performances. If you were to put Trout and Lara in with Golovkin, it’s difficult to picture either of them surviving the full 12 rounds, even if they attempted to run from him. If a mobile fighter like Monroe couldn’t make it more than six rounds after being carried by Golovkin from the 2nd, then it’s doubtful that Trout and Lara would make it the full distance with Golovkin.

Golovkin is wasting his time calling out Cotto and Canelo in my view, because I see neither of those fighters showing any interest in getting in the ring with him. Cotto, I don’t see him ever facing Golvokin. With Canelo, I believe he’ll eventually agree once Golovkin is heading towards 40. Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya said he doesn’t want to match Canelo against Golovkin for two more years, but I’d be willing to bet that De La Hoya extends that another two years if Golovkin is still fighting at a high rate at that time. Golovkin will be 35 in two years. He could easily be still fighting at a high level. In contrast, Canelo will only be 26. If De La Hoya chooses to keep pushing the fight off into the future, he might be able to get Canelo a win if they get Golovkin when he’s old enough for Canelo to finally beat him. But if Golovkin continues to be a huge puncher even as he nears 40, Canelo won’t stand a chance in my opinion. He’s too flat footed and limited.



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