Canelo speaks about the Golovkin fight, says “I’m not afraid of anybody”

By Boxing News - 08/26/2015 - Comments

Image: Canelo speaks about the Golovkin fight, says “I’m not afraid of anybody”By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez told the media this week that if he’s mandated to fight IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in the near future after his bout against WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto then that’s something he’ll explore and think about. But Canelo says he’s not afraid to fight anybody in the sport despite the fact that Canelo hasn’t elected to fight Golovkin as of yet.

“If that’s something that was mandated, then we’ll take it serious,” Canelo said to media. “After this fight [against Cotto], we’ll deal with it. I’m not afraid of anybody.”

We’ll see if Canelo is truly not afraid of anybody because if he chooses not to fight Golovkin after the Cotto fight, then you’ll have to assume that Canelo is afraid of fighting the Kazakhstan star. If Canelo chooses to fight Cotto again, and winds up either vacating the WBC middleweight title or having it stripped from him by the World Boxing Council for failing to fight Golovkin, then it’s going to be difficult for boxing fans to think anything other than Canelo being afraid of Golovkin.

When you see the guys that Canelo has been fighting recently since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., it’s hard to see him as someone who is fearless. Canelo isn’t even fighting the real dangerous guys at 154 like Jermall Charlo or Demetrius Andrade. Instead, Canelo has been fighting Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland and Erislandy Lara. Kirkland and Angulo are top names from the past, and are no longer relevant at this time for the 154lb division.

I wouldn’t call them shot fighters, but I don’t think either of them is relevant any longer. Why Canelo fought them rather than Golovkin is anyone’s guess. Canelo was supposed to fight 35-year-old Joshua Clottey last December. Why Canelo wanted to fight Clottey, who is arguably 5 years past his time, is unclear.

I think Canelo talks a good game, but he’s not fighting the really good guys except for when he faces Mayweather and gets beaten, and now with Cotto.

Whether Canelo fights Golovkin or not will probably be determined by Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya, and he said recently that Canelo will eventually fight Golovkin one of these days. The way that De La Hoya said it, it doesn’t look like Canelo will be fighting Golovkin in 2016, and definitely not in his next fight after the Cotto fight. In other words, if Golovkin wants a fight against Canelo, then he’s going to have to wait around for Canelo and De La Hoya to decide when the time is right for when they want to take the fight.

If Golovkin wants to wait around for that to happen, then he’s going to be inactive possibly for a long time. I think it would be better for Golovkin to forget about Canelo and just move his career along the best he can. If he’s open to fighting Canelo in the future when De La Hoya and Canelo both decide on giving him the fight, then that will be up to him.

What will be troubling is if they wait until Golovkin is 35 or 36 before they choose to take the fight. I guess the money will make it worthwhile for Golovkin to take the fight at that time, but he’ll have to deal with being an older fighter and likely no longer in his prime by that point in his career.

De La Hoya’s reasons for not wanting to make the fight with Golovkin right now would likely be because he would want to wait until the fight becomes bigger, but you can’t help thinking that De La Hoya is looking to wait until Golovkin is old enough for Canelo to actually beat him.

If I were Golovkin, I wouldn’t bother giving Canelo a fight if he made me wait 2-3 years. I’d tell him the fight can be made now or never. If Canelo doesn’t want the fight and is willing to vacate the WBC title or have is stripped from him due to him not being interested in fighting Golovkin at this point in his career, I would wash my hands of him and forget he existed. Golovkin can be put hold for 2-3 years of his career waiting for Canelo and De La Hoya to finally show interest in fighting him.



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