Canelo should wait until Golovkin is 35 before fighting him, says Garcia

By Boxing News - 11/28/2015 - Comments

1-canelo-cotto (4)By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Robert Garcia thinks it would be a mistake on WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) to face WBC interim champion Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) right now, because he definitely sees Golovkin beating Canelo if that fight takes place right now.

However, Garcia thinks that could change if the 25-year-old Canelo waits two years until Golovkin is 35-years-old before taking that fight. Garcia believes that Canelo will improve in the next couple of years with the experience he gets in the ring.

Additionally, Garcia sees Golovkin aging and potentially not being the same fighter that he is right now, and that would further help Canelo to beat Golovkin.

The World Boxing Council recently said that the winner of the Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo fight would have to face Golovkin next. However, with Cotto being stripped of the WBC title, and with the highly popular Canelo now the new WBC middleweight champion, Robert Garcia doubts that the WBC will choose to strip Canelo.

Instead, he believes that they’ll let Canelo, a new WBC champion, fight a couple of voluntary defenses of his new WBC title before pushing him to face Golovkin a year from now in either late 2016 or sometime in 2017.

Garcia feels that Golovkin might not even be around waiting by that point a year from now, and then he wouldn’t even be in the equation for a fight against Canlelo.

“I don’t think he’s [Canelo] ready yet [for Golovkin],” Garcia said to Fighthype. “Maybe in two or three more fights. We’re talking maybe in a year or two years. He’ll be 27, and Golovkin will be 35. Maybe in two years from now, it’ll be better for him [Canelo]. Right now, I wouldn’t advise him to do it. But in two more year from now, why not?”

Mikey Garcia: “Why not right now? Is it business or because he’s not ready for boxing?”
Garcia: “I think he gets beat by Triple G.”

Mikey: “You think he’s [Canelo] going to get better in a year or two?”

Garcia: “Yeah, he could. More experience plus the two years older Triple G. That’s why. He’s [Golovkin] already 33. So he’ll be 35. So Canelo is two years older and Triple G is two years older too. It could be a big difference. I’d rather wait two years than right now. Maybe we could get the same results, but at least you have that little advantage.”

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I have a feeling that this is exactly how Canelo, his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions, the WBC and Canelo’s trainer will all elect to handle Golovkin. I don’t think they’re going to let their golden goose Canelo take the fight with Golovkin right now, because business-wise, Canelo is a money-making machine right now. In other words, Canelo is a goose that is laying golden eggs no matter who he faces. T

hey can put him in with anyone and the fans still want to see him fight. All of that can change, however, if Canelo faces Golovkin and gets knocked out cold. That might turn Canelo into another Nonito Donaire type fighter.

We saw how Donaire appeared to lose a lot of his popularity overnight after his one-sided loss to Guillermo Rigondeaux a couple of years ago. It was OK that Canelo was soundly beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr. because he was seen as the best fighter in boxing. But it’s a much different story if Canelo gets whipped badly by Golovkin, because he’s not seen as the best fighter in boxing, and there wouldn’t be a free pass for Canelo like there was in his loss to Mayweather.

Another thing is that Canelo might not get saved by the judges like he arguably was with his controversial wins over Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara. The judges gave Canelo victories in those fights despite him appearing to lose in the minds of a lot of boxing fans. But with Golovkin, he has the kind of punching power that would turn the judges into helpless spectators, There would likely be no controversial decisions in a Canelo-Golovkin fight, because Golovkin would very likely batter Canelo to a pulp. Even if the fight did go to a decision there would be little chance that Canelo could be given a decision because he would be so badly beaten.

I honestly don’t think two years is a long enough time for Canelo, Golden Boy, the WBC and Reynoso to wait before taking the Golovkin fight. I think Golovkin will still be punching with huge power at 35 like he is right now. Golovkin isn’t a fighter known for his hand speed. It’s his ring intelligence and punching power that makes him so good. He’s not going to get dumb in two years, and 35-year-old fighters don’t lose their punching power. As such, the only thing that will change in the next two years is Golovkin being more popular than he is now, and likely Canelo being the one who starts to lose some of his skills rather Golovkin.

Canelo is a fighter that is getting bigger and bigger, and he depends a lot on his stamina, which has never been that good to start with. In two years, I can see Canelo walking around at 200 pounds in between fights. I can see that happening. That’s going to make it next to impossible for Canelo to continue to melt down to fight in his own special weight class of 155lbs that he’s created.

You can’t expect Canelo to melt down 45 pounds from 200 to get down to 155 so that he can have a huge weight advantage over his opponents. Even if Canelo fights at 160, I still see it being too hard for him to make that weight. Canelo would literally be forced to fight at super middleweight at 168, because that would only be a 32 pound weight loss that he would have to undergo each time he fights instead of a 40 pound weight loss.

Even if Canelo doesn’t walk around at 200 pounds two years from now, I definitely see him in the 190s. He looked to me to be in the 180s for the Cotto fight last Saturday night. If Canelo is fighting in the 180s now, then he’s clearly going to get bigger in the next two years and I see 190+ being his new fighting weight by that time.

For a fighter 27, I think it’ll be very, very hard for Canelo to make 160 to melt down 30+ pounds to make that weight. This means that if Golovkin still wants to fight Canelo, he’ll likely need to move up to 168 or some weird catch-weight that Canelo feels he would have an advantage over Golovkin.



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