Golovkin’s trainer rips Canelo for creating his own weight division

By Boxing News - 04/24/2016 - Comments

1-CaneloKhanLondonPC_Hoganphotos7By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Abel Sanchez says WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) is little more than a diva due to him fighting at catch-weights of 155lbs and changing the sport by creating a new division with his catch-weight fights at that weight.

Sanchez feels that Canelo should grow some courage and fight at the full weight of 160lbs so Sanchez’s fighter IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) can face him for the WBC title later this year if Canelo wins against Amir Khan in less than two weeks on May 7. Sanchez doesn’t like the way that Canelo has changed the sport with his new catch-weight 155lb division.

“It has nothing to do with Canelo. He has the belt,” said Sanchez to Fighthype.com. “If Canelo decides to grow some and be a middleweight, then we’ll fight. Yes, he is a diva for wanting to change the sport we all love, and we all respect those guys for stepping through the ropes. When you make a weight that is not in any division. We have 17 weight divisions right now. You’re acting like a Diva. That’s why I said that.”

Guys like Canelo were bound to come around sooner or later, because all it takes is a really popular fighter that wants to fight at catch-weights and they can use their popularity to get their way. The sanctioning bodies are supposed to be the ones setting the rules and boundaries, but they seem to be fine with Canelo’s catch-weight fights.

What’s going to be interesting to see in May is whether the World Boxing Council lets Canelo force a catch-weight on Golovkin or not. Golovkin is the WBC mandatory challenger, so Canelo shouldn’t normally be able to push a catch-weight on him as a condition for the fight to take place with the WBC title being on the line.

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Canelo can set he conditions if Golovkin wasn’t fighting him for a world title, but things are different now that Canelo is the WBC belt holder. If Canelo wants to get the heat off of him, he can easily vacate his WBC title and then it won’t be a big deal that he asks Golovkin to agree to a catch-weight of 155lbs before he’ll fight him. I’m not sure that Canelo will do that though because he doesn’t seem all that eager to take the fight with Golovkin right now. It’s quite possible that even if Golovkin were to agree to the 155lb catch-weight that Canelo might ask for, he would come up with some other condition that he would need to agree with before he would give him a fight.

“If Canelo decides to vacate the belt and leave the belt, I’ll never say his name again until he starts calling us again,” said Sanchez to Fighthype.com. “But right now the WBC belt is important to Gennady, and he [Canelo] has it and if he’s not willing to fight, then just give it up,” said Sanchez.

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When asked if Gennady would move down in weight to fight Canelo at a catch-weight of 155lbs, Sanchez said “Never. First, he wants to be unified champion and Canelo gives it up, then they can go and negotiate something at a lesser weight. Right now, it’s the principal of the thing for him. He says he will not come down one ounce. It’s a 160 pound belt and that’s where we’re going to fight. If he [Canelo] doesn’t want to, then he can go on and leave the belt. We’re willing to fight. We want to fight for the belt. Why would he [Golovkin] give into a diva? Why would we give into someone who is trying to change boxing? I think we have 17 divisions in boxing right now. Why would we need another one for? We don’t have to come down in weight? It wouldn’t mean anything to us other than a bigger payday. Gennady is getting very good money now. He’s happy fighting at 160 pounds. Again, once he wins the title and has the title and he’s the unified champion, then things can change, then negotiations can happen. But until he’s the unified champion, he’s not going to bow down to a diva,” said Sanchez.

It looks like Golovkin won’t be agreeing to any catch-weight that Canelo might ask for as a condition for a fight against him. Sanchez is saying that Golovkin won’t come down one ounce for the Canelo fight. This means unless Canelo gives in to his elders, he’s going to be stripped of his WBC title unless he vacates it first.