Roach says Canelo-Golovkin needs to marinate more

By Boxing News - 05/10/2016 - Comments

roach762By Dan Ambrose: Freddie Roach, the trainer for Miguel Cotto, says the proposed mega-fight between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin needs more time to marinate so that it can become a bigger fight. Roach thinks it’s a good idea for Golovkin and Canelo to fight on the same card against other opponents so that their fight can be built up more to make it bigger.

Roach doesn’t say how there would be enough money to put Canelo and Golovkin on the same card, as both are headliner type fighters at this point in their careers. Golovkin would obviously need to be second fiddle to Canelo, and that might not be a good idea if you’re Golovkin.

“Roach says might be best idea to put both @GGGBoxing and @Canelo on separate fights in next card to build the fight up,” said Lance Pugmire of the LA Times on his Twitter.

Roach’s idea for Golovkin and Canelo to let their fight marinate more might seem to some boxing fans as a self-serving move on his part, because if Canelo doesn’t fight Golovkin next, he’ll almost surely face Cotto in a rematch. That benefits Roach because he trains Cotto. Instead of Golovkin getting the fight against Canelo, Cotto would get the fight and that would definitely be a move that helps Roach.

It would also help Roach that Canelo isn’t beaten badly by Golovkin first because once that happens, Canelo vs. Cotto II loses a lot of the steam that it would have if Canelo came into the fight with a winning streak rather than coming off a likely knockout loss to Golovkin. The reality is that Golovkin has knocked out 22 straight opponents, and Canelo doesn’t look like he’s going to be the one that will end his KO streak.

If anything, Canelo could be one of Golovkin’s easier knockouts due to his come forward style of fighting. If Canelo tries to load up his badly telegraphed left hooks, he’s going to get clocked by Golovkin. Canelo is too simple, too one-dimensional and too much of a plodder to do anything other than to be knocked out in this fight.

“’I think Canelo and GGG Boxing is a lot more competitive fight than people think,’ says Freddie Roach,” said Pugmire.

If Roach thinks the Canelo-Golovkin fight is more competitive than people think, then why is he suggesting that they let the fight marinate? Golovkin has already been waiting for two years to get a title shot as the WBC 160lb mandatory challenger.

Is Roach suggesting that Golovkin wait another year before he gets his mandatory shot at the title? I don’t think that’s fair to Golovkin because he’s waited long enough, and there’s no telling whether Canelo will even fight him in 2017 after the fight had had more time to marinate. At some point the fighters need to stop wasting time trying to build the fight up and just go out there and fight.

Golovkin is 34-years-old. How old does Roach want him to be before he can finally get a fight against Canelo? Like I said, I think Roach’s advice for Canelo-Golovkin to let the fight marinate is a self-serving move that helps him because it lets his fighter Cotto get a quick rematch against Canelo rather than waiting for the Canelo-Golovkin fight to take place first.

YouTube video

“Roach said it was out of place for Virgil Hunter to complain about Canelo. ‘Why don’t you go help your guy off the floor first,’ Roach says,” said Pugmire.

Amir Khan and his trainer Virgil Hunter told HBO commentator Max Kellerman last Saturday night that it’s time for Canelo to step it up and fight Golovkin instead of running from him. It looks like Roach didn’t like that. You can argue that it helps Roach if they don’t say anything about Canelo avoiding the Golovkin fight, because then no pressure would be put on him from the casual and hardcore boxing fans.

If Canelo isn’t being pressured about not fighting Golovkin, then he can bypass him yet again and go and fight Roach’s guy Cotto again. Roach isn’t really the one to be making comments on Hunter and Khan speaking up about Canelo. If Roach didn’t have a fighter that could potentially get a fight against Canelo in 2016, then it would be easier to listen to him make comments about Canelo, Golovkin and Khan.