By Dan Ambrose: IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez wants Golovkin and former WBA/WBC 154 pound champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) to face each other in 2016 on either Cinco de Mayo in May or during the Mexican Independence Day weekend in September. Sanchez doesn’t agree with Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya that the Canelo-Golovkin fight should take place two years from now.
Sanchez feels that the fight should take place while both guys are on their way up rather than after they’ve both leveled off. You can make an argument that both fighters are likely as good as they’ll ever be.
The 24-year-old Canelo doesn’t look like he’s improved at all since his win over Austin Trout in 2013. He’s still pretty much the same fighter. Golovkin is 33, and it’s doubtful that he’ll get any better from this point.
It’s unfortunate that at his age he’s reduced to facing guys like Daniel Geale, Willie Monroe and Martin Murray instead of the better fighters like Miguel Cotto and Canelo.
“I think if it was up to Oscar it would be 2020. I think the public demands that,” Sanchez said to Fighthype. “It’s the next big fight. We can’t like we did with Manny and Floyd. We have to get these guys while they’re rising. It would be a great fight in Cino de Mayo next year or during Independence Day next year. I think the build-up would be perfect.”
It does silly that De La Hoya is saying that the Golovkin vs. Canelo fight should wait two years from now. Some boxing fans feel that De La Hoya is just using that as an excuse not to risk his golden goose by putting him in with someone that can beat him. What would be really sad is if two years pass, and then De La Hoya says that they need to wait another two years to put Canelo in with Golovkin. By then, Golovkin would be 37.
If the idea is to wait until Golovkin is a shot fighter, then you can understand why it might be a good thing for Canelo and De La Hoya to wait before making the Canelo-Golovkin. Other than that, I don’t think it helps either fighter to wait two years before the fight is made.
Golovkin will win all of his fights, but he won’t get much more popular than he is now without a fight against a big name. The same with Canelo. The only guy with a big name that can face him is Miguel Cotto. I doubt that Mayweather will fight Canelo again, and I don’t Manny Pacquiao agreeing to fight him.
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