By Dan Ambrose: Gennady “GGG” Golovkin says he doubts that Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will fight him in 2017 like his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions said he would. Instead, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Golovkin believes that a fight between them could take place in five years, which would make the Kazakhstan fighter 39-years-old. Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) doesn’t see Canelo (47-1-1, 33 KOs) as being serious about wanting to fight him right now. He sees the 26-year-old Canelo as being motivated by business rather than for the sport.
As far as his next opponent Kell Brook goes, Golovkin thinks he’s too heavy at 176, and he thinks it won’t be too much for him to deal with on September 10 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Golovkin sees Brook’s bulking up as a strategy from his team. He says he’s currently at 165lbs, and he’s feeling very good.
“A long time ago, we trained together. I had a lot of respect for him,” Golovkin said about Canelo. “Right now, it’s just business. He showed his face. He showed strategy of Golden Boy. It’s not respect. This is not business. Eubank is like Canelo. He’s just talking. It’s just show. It’s not real. He’s not serious, just commercial, like circus; so many clowns here, just dancing. As soon as he was given contract, it’s ‘no.’ Too much talking. He knows he’s not fighting me. He knows. Why you talking? Why you say you’re calling me tomorrow? He’s not serious. I don’t want talking. These are just clowns. I know Canelo is not ready until next year; maybe in five years later. Maybe just like that,” said Golovkin.
Golovkin should probably forget about the Canelo fight, because it’s likely going to happen only when he’s peaking and Golovkin is starting to show signs of deterioration due to his age. They obviously will be fighting at some point, but I suspect that it won’t take place until it’s the right time where it benefits Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy. Golovkin is looking too good right now, so the fight isn’t happening. Once he’s not looking good, then I suspect Golden Boy and Canelo will make a major push to get the fight with him. It’ll be kind of like how Miguel Cotto didn’t fight Sergio Martinez until he was 40-years-old, and with coming off of two surgeries on his right knee and a year out of the ring.
“I like my style. I’m working hard every day,” said Golovkin. “My weight is perfect, 165. Right now after sparring, I’m 163. I’m not big. I don’t have so many muscles. Yeah, I’m surprised Kell is 176. That’s too much, I think. That’s his strategy, his team’s strategy. I think it’s not too much for me. It’s my business. I like my style. Carl Froch, he talks too much. Chris Eubank, he talks too much. He’s not serious. People [in UK] love boxing. They want drama show,” said Golovkin.
When asked if he will fight Canelo next year, Golovkin said, “No, not believe. Not next year. My goal is to own all the belts. Not Canelo, because Canelo showed his face. Golden Boy showed it’s strategy. It’s finished. I believe 10 percent [that Canelo will fight him], he’s ready. I know him. We trained together. I know he’s a very good fighter. He knows he’s never going to fight with me. It’s not respect,” said Golovkin.
I’ve never seen Golovkin look so animated and annoyed in an interview before, but he definitely was for this one. Golovkin seems to be really bothered by Canelo not wanting to fight him right now. I don’t know why it would upset him. Obviously, Canelo and his team are waiting for the right time to make the fight, both in terms of business and in term of Golovkin being deteriorated. Golovkin is 34 and Canelo 26. It works better for Canelo to wait him out until he’s an older fighter and not what he once was before he takes the fight.
The downside of this strategy is that Canelo will look like he’s not willing to fight the best if he just fights guys like Liam Smith. If Canelo only fights the lesser guys, he’s going to cripple his own career by playing it safe. The reasons why fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya became huge stars were because they were mostly willing to take on the top fighters in the sport during their careers. Canelo has been moved strategically like a chess piece by Golden Boy in being matched against some good fighters, but not against others.
While we’ve seen Canelo put in with Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Erislandy Lara, and Austin Trout, we haven’t seen him matched against Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, the Charlo brothers or Demetrius Andrade. Those guys would all have a very good shot of beating Canelo. Lara would have beaten Canelo if he’d just let his hands go in their fight in 2014. The win was there for Lara, but he played it safe and found himself on the losing end of a 12 round split decision. Lara is a good fighter, but the Charlo brothers, Julian Williams, Jacobs and Andrade are unquestionably the next level up in talent.
Canelo isn’t being put in with those guys by his promoters at Golden Boy, and it’s not surprising because the risk is too high. This is why we’re seeing Canelo matched against Liam Smith, and why we’re likely going to see him put in with WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in December. Saunders seems to be pretty confident he’ll get the Canelo fight no matter what, because he rejected three fighters that Golden Boy offered for him to fight on the Canelo vs. Smith undercard on September 17 next month.
If Saunders didn’t feel confident that he would get the chance to fight Canelo, it’s hard to see him turning down the fighters offered to him. Canelo vs. Saunders is such a predictable move for the Mexican star, because if he doesn’t go after that weak target, then he would have a lot of pressure for him to fight Jacobs or Golovkin at middleweight and he and his promoters at Golden Boy don’t seem to be ready to make either of those moves.