(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Allan Fox: Boxing great Juan Manuel Marquez thinks that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) showed enough improvement last night with his win over Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) to suggest that he’ll beat IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) if the two middleweights face each other.
Marquez thinks Canelo can beat Golovkin if he fights defensively by making the Kazakhstan fighter miss with his power punches like he was making Cotto miss last night in their fight on HBO PPV from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Marquez sees Golovkin as just a come forward type of fighter, who lacks the finesse to beat a fighter like Canelo.
As for a rematch between Canelo and Floyd Mayweather Jr., Marquez thinks the outcome would be the same as their previous fight in 2013. Marquez doesn’t think Canelo would do well against Mayweather’s fighting style due to him being such an elusive fighter. Canelo appears to have put on weight since his fight with Mayweather two years ago, and that wouldn’t help him against a fighter like Mayweather, who would likely find it even easier to elude the slower Canelo than he did the first time around.
Marquez thinks that the judges got the decision wrong last night in the Cotto-Canelo fight. He thinks it should have been scored a draw instead of a win for Canelo. Marquez is not alone with the belief that the judges got the scores wrong. There are a number of fans who felt that the fight should have been scored a draw due to neither fighter having proved that they did enough to deserve the victory.
“Another great fight [Cotto vs. Golovkin],” Marquez said to Fighthub. “He’s [Canelo] ready. He showed some great things that shows he’s advancing and learning. But I think here today the judges did a bad job, but I will give credit to Canelo. He’s getting better defensively, and he did well. He didn’t work his combinations consistently, but he won the fight. I think a Cotto rematch would be good, and it would be interesting for both and the fans. But we got to see what Cotto thinks. He doesn’t want to be middleweight champion. He vacated the belt. I think he will drop down to 154 and look for a title there. A Mayweather rematch would be the same. We know Mayweather doesn’t like to exchange and fight, and that style is tough for Canelo. We saw tonight in some rounds, Cotto made him look bad. The important thing is Canelo has advanced well, but if he fights an elusive fighter, a fighter that moves, it’s hard for him. Canelo dodged a lot of punches tonight from Cotto, but he was missing the counter shot. There was no counter punching. He did the most difficult part, which was to dodge punches, but he didn’t have a response. If he had counter punched continuously, he would have won the fight by knockout. This is an important win for Canelo because he gets the credibility he was looking for. It’s an important victory for him. Now we get to see what’s next [for Canelo]. The rivals are stronger and difficult like Golovkin. Hopefully the WBC respects the official challenger, and they give Golovkin the opportunity and not wait for the Golovkin fight after two years. That would be unjust if that happens. From what I saw of Canelo, he would give a great fight to Golovkin. It would be an important and great fight, because we saw him [Canelo] evade punches, and we know Golovkin is a come forward fighter. If Canelo boxes him like he did tonight, evading punches, but counter attacks, it would be an interesting fight, a fight he could probably win on points,” Marquez said.
I think Golovkin would treat Canelo much in the same way that he did the slightly lighter David Lemieux, who Golovkin chose to jab all night long in their fight last October. Golovkin softened Lemieux up with his jab until taking him out with a flurry of shots in the 8th round.
“I think the judges gave a bad decision,” Marquez told Fighthub about Canelo’s win last night over Cotto. “I think the fight was a draw. I think Canelo did a great fight. It was a close fight. I tell you, I think that fight was a draw or Canelo by one or two points. For me, it was a draw. I think Cotto should have continued with his punches. He landed combinations and he moved very well in the ring, but I think he need to throw more punches. Canelo was looking so big. Cotto is a great fighter, but he needs to throw more punches. He needs to throw combinations and he needs power. Cotto, he needed power for Canelo Alvarez,” Marquez said.
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