By Jeff Aranow: Despite the huge amount of attention WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) has received since his fight against British welterweight Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) was first announced two weeks ago, IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) refuses to consider it as a serious fight that is a competitive match-up. Canelo meets Khan on May 7 on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Golovkin can’t take it seriously because of Canelo’s weight advantage, and power advantage. In Golovkin’s mind, the Canelo-Khan fight is only for business purposes to make money and not one meant to be a serious fight that can be one by either fighter.
“He’s not serious. He’s middleweight champion. Middleweight is 160, not 155. It’s crazy,” Golovkin said to Fighthype.com. “Canelo is a great champion. [I want] any big fight like Canelo. It doesn’t matter. I am a boxer. I’m not a businessman. I’m ready to fight him,” Golovkin said about Canelo.
Golovkin sounds envious of Canelo for him getting the attention from the boxing world with his fight against Khan. Fans are interested in the Canelo-Khan fight and it’s good for the sport.
If Golovkin had taken the time to watch some of Canelo’s past fights, he’d know that Khan does have a chance of winning this fight, and that this is almost an even fight. Khan is a very talented fighter that is more than capable of doing exactly what Floyd Mayweather Jr. did to Canelo three years ago in 2013. Canelo was younger then, but he still shows the same flaws now at 25 than he did in the Mayweather fight.
Canelo struggles against fighters like Khan. Canelo can’t handle guys with fast hands and quick ring movements. In some ways, Khan is like a better version of Mayweather. When Mayweather fought Canelo, he was 36, slower on his feet than he was 10 years earlier, and unable to move around the ring like he once did. This is a good fight, and you can’t say for sure who will win. If Khan comes into the fight well-prepared with a great game plan from his trainer Virgil Hunter, he’s going to make it nearly impossible for Canelo to land more than one shot at a time. Canelo will have a hard time landing at all in this fight if Khan is fighting smart the way he’s capable of doing.
Love this town #BigApple @rockcenternyc pic.twitter.com/IfkuZ69yG1
— Gennady Golovkin (@GGGBoxing) February 18, 2016
The reason why Mayweather stayed in the pocket for such a long time against Canelo is because he didn’t have the legs to move around. Mayweather had to stand in the pocket and fight Canelo because by that time in his career, he was more or less a stationary fighter. Khan can still move at a fast pace, and has extraordinary hand speed that Canelo has never seen before. Khan will be fighting a slower guy than what he’s been facing. Canelo is fast for a middleweight, but he’s not fast for a welterweight and not as speedy as the guys that Khan has been fighting.
Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions did the right thing in matching him up against Khan, because he’s a better fighter than the guys that they were considering for his May 7 fight. Golden Boy were thinking of matching Canelo against Gabriel Rosado, Willie Monroe Jr. or Vanes Martirosyan. Those were not going to bring in big ratings on HBO PPV.
Those were fights that were so poor that Canelo would have been faced with the reality of a fight that would be lucky if it hit the 100K mark in PPV buys. Khan is a better fighter than those guys, and much more popular. Khan would likely beat all of those guys if he were interested in moving up to the 160lb division specifically to fight them. Golden Boy wasn’t going to match Canelo against the top junior middleweights because I think they had a bad experience in the past when they put him in with Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara. I don’t think they wanted to take that risk again with other top 154lb fighters. Nevertheless, Khan may prove to be better than anyone that could have been found for Canelo at 154 and 160.
“He’s young. He’s hungry,” Golovkin said about Wade. “I think he’s very dangerous. A little bit different style because Willie, he’s a southpaw. He has a different style. This is business plan for Khan-Canelo. I bring true fight, true event, my fight and Chocolatito Gonzalez,” said Golovkin.
Golovkin’s April 23 fight against unbeaten #3 IBF Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs) isn’t a business fight. It’s more of a fight that he had no choice but to take due to the IBF ordering him to face the 25-year-old Wade.
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