By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Freddie Roach suspects that WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) will be bigger and stronger than IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) when/if the two fighters face each other in 2016.
Roach doesn’t think that Canelo will be necessarily the bigger puncher than Golovkin, but he does think he’ll be stronger than him and heavier as well. Roach doesn’t know how Golovkin will respond with being in the ring with a fighter heavier than him in Canelo, because it’s potentially going to be a different sitiation than he’s become accustomed to.
Golovkin has been fighting guys that were more or less the same size as him. Against Canelo, the 170lb Golovkin could be facing a fighter with a 15 pound eight advantage over him on fight night. It could be even more difficult if Canelo can get Golovkin to agree to a strength draining 155lb catch-weight for the fight.
We don’t know how a fighter Golovkin’s age at 33 will be able to deal with a catch-weight. The younger 25-year-old Canelo has proven many times that he has no problems taking huge amounts of weight off and putting it back on overnight after the weigh-ins to enjoy a nice size advantage over his opponents.
“I think it’s [Golovkin vs. Canelo] a very good fight,” Roach said to Fighthype. “I think it’s a big test because I don’t think he’s [Golovkin] ever been tested. He’s one of my favorite fighters. I like the way he fights, Triple G, but he really hasn’t faced anyone that great yet. Against a Mexican fighter that’s tough and had a good chin, and a guy that’s going to be bigger than him in the ring, and maybe stronger than him also, maybe not a better puncher. I would look forward to that fight. I hope that it happens. I think he’s [Canelo] better. He’s more durable. He took a shot. He’s a big strong guy. He took some really big shots [against Miguel Cotto] and they didn’t move him. I think he’s better than I thought,” Roach said.
It’s true that there is no way of knowing how Golovkin will handle fighting someone at Canelo’s level, because thus far, Golovkin has not fought anyone in Canelo’ class. We know that Canelo fought someone in Golovkin’s class in the past and was easily beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr. Canelo’s other important fights have come against Cotto, Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout and James Kirkland. Lara and Trout came close to beating Canelo. Lara would have likely beaten Canelo if he had thrown more punches and moved less, but he played it safe in the second half of the fight and let the fight get away from him.
When asked if Canelo is ready to take over as boxing’s best fighter, Roach said “He’s got to get buy Triple G first. If he gets by Triple G, then we can talk. But that’s a real tough fight because they’re both tough guys. They both have good chins. They both are really physical guys. It’s a good fight.”
Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions has been saying recently that Canelo is now the top fighter in boxing now that Mayweather Jr. is retired. However, Roach thinks it’s premature right now to say that Canelo is the Number 1 guy until he can prove that he can beat Golovkin. Roach is right about that.
It’s crazy for De La Hoya to be crowning Canelo as the top guy before he’s even taken his first real test since his loss to Mayweather. You cannot count the 35-year-old Cotto as a huge test for Canelo because of the weight advantage that Canelo appeared to enjoy in their fight last November. Canelo looked like he outweighed Cotto by at least 20 pounds in that fight. Neither fighter was weighed in ahead of time, but Cotto appeared to be in the low 160s. Canelo was much bigger and Roach believes that he came into the fight at 185.
When asked who he thinks wins between Golovkin and Canelo, Roach said “Triple G, I think.”
“Of course I do,” Roach said in response to the question of whether Canelo is ready for Golovkin at this point in his career.
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