By Dan Ambrose: Saul Canelo Alvarez is a fake middleweight, and he’ll be knocked out if he faces middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, says his trainer Abel Sanchez. He thinks Canelo doesn’t want the fight against Golovkin, because he and his promoter Oscar De L Hoya knows he gets knocked out when that fight happens. Sanchez says if the Canelo fight happens for Golovkin, then it’s good. If it doesn’t happen, then they’ll move on and keep doing what they’ve been doing in winning fight. Sanchez repeatedly says Golovkin is focused on his fight this Saturday night against Daniel Jacobs, but the future fight against Canelo is there in the background that he’s thinking about.
Sanchez says Golovkin should be treated fairly by Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions or else he’ll go elsewhere. Sanchez didn’t talk about the flat fee offer made by Golden Boy and Canelo to Golovkin. That’s been one of the things that has been mentioned in the past as a potential obstacle to getting the Canelo-Golovkin fight done. Golovkin’s management wants a percentage deal for the Canelo fight, whereas Golden Boy has reportedly been offering a flat fee for him. It’s unclear what kind of deal is on the table for Golovkin at this moment. If it’s a take it or leave it $15 million offer, then it might be very difficult to make the fight between Canelo and Golovkin in September.
“Obviously, this is a business and obviously Gennady in a position by not only his streak, but getting to the streak of knockouts to be dealt with fairly; to be dealt with fairly or we can go fight with other people,” said Sanchez to Fighthub.com. “We don’t need Canelo. Canelo can go on about his business, and be the fake middleweight that he wants to be. But we’re going to continue to do what we’re doing. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, then that’s OK,” said Sanchez about a fight against Canelo. “I think the fans hope it’ll happen. I don’t think Canelo hopes it happens, because he knows he gets knocked out and Oscar knows it too,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez seems a little irritated by Canelo and Golden Boy due to the Golovkin fight still not having been made. De La Hoya has been talking a lot about wanting to make the Canelo-Golovkin fight in September. If De La Hoya doesn’t do that, then you have to wonder if he’s just name dropping Golovkin’s name to increase interest in Canelo’s fights against arguably lesser talented fighters like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Liam Smith.
If Golovkin never faces Canelo, he can still get interesting fights in the future against WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in June, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and Jermall Charlo. Those are three fights that will be really big for Golovkin. It’s hard to imagine Canelo agreeing to fight Charlo and Ramirez, because those are two tough guys that would have a very chance of beating him.
Canelo didn’t fight Charlo when he was fighting at 154. It’s hard to believe that Canelo will face him now that he’s moved up to the middleweight division. If Canelo decides to stay at 160, he’s going to have problems finding interesting opponents to fight if he doesn’t face Golovkin, Jermall Charlo or Daniel Jacobs. Once you get past those three, the talent is thin in the division. Golden Boy can obviously have Canelo fight welterweights one or two times a year at middleweight, but that’s going to look funny if he does that. Besides, the welterweight division is pretty limited as well. There are only a small handful of popular fighters in the 147 lb. division.
