Is Canelo afraid of GGG?

By Boxing News - 04/04/2017 - Comments

Image: Is Canelo afraid of GGG?

By Jaime Ortega: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya knows that his fighter Saul “Canelo” is his top money fighter and as of today the main successful guy tied with his promotional company. I believe that De La Hoya is trying to preserve Canelo, even if it means ducking the king at 160lbs and almost undisputed unified champion Gennady Golovkin.

De La Hoya’s strategy to advise Golovkin not to fight Billy Joe Sounders in June is a low scheme proposition worthy of comedy. Golovkin must not fall into De La Hoya’s game, as they’re no guarantees whatsoever Canelo will fight him in September.

Canelo after he beat a much smaller Miguel Cotto in 2015, he vacated the WBC middleweight belt only to avoid Golovkin — his mandatory at the time. Canelo wanted a catch weight to fight Golovkin, even though he just defeated Cotto at middleweight. That, my friends, made no sense whatsoever. After Canelo brutally knocked Amir Khan in May 2016, a much smaller and weaker opponent – Trainer Virgil Hunter openly challenged Canelo in the same manner Khan faced him, to fight Golovkin.

Not long after, casual fans began to rant Canelo was the A-side and justified his attitude only reminiscent of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s era, and De La Hoya himself. How one presently views the A-side is mostly based on how much financial support they lay on the table – It’s about Pay-Per-View buys.

Historically, even before PPV’s existed and rich media moguls tried to commercialize boxing, there was no such thing as the A-side.

Champions in the past faced each-other based on individual merit, unification and mandatory fights. Sugar Ray Robinson did not choose where to fight Henry Armstrong – Armstrong a national hero, media sensation and a bigger name in 1943 — the fight was scheduled without having to concede to money and other childish demands. Armstrong was old and took the fight like a boss despite losing to a much bigger and younger Robinson via Unanimous Decision. Such championship battle-all behavior was normal everyday business back in the days when boxing was king – another day in office, no strings attached.

I strongly believe if boxers in the past were to come to our present boxing scene, they would have called most top boxers ‘chickens and ducks’. The boxers of our generation fight less, demand the whole world and they’re getting paid disproportionally more than in the Golden Era. UFC continues to dwarf boxing as they actually take all their mandatories, fighting the next in line.

Historically Canelo is no A-side; the only man who pulled that clever trick was Mayweather Jr., and no one else will be able to mimic or exploit the promotional side of boxing like he did. The Pay-Per-View era is over, and the only way boxing will survive to posterity is with free television. In my opinion, Canelo will never generate the money Mayweather Jr., encapsulated during his undefeated reign. Whether or not, fans agree with how Mayweather Jr., nitpicked his mandatories or fought other champions on their primes is another discussion for another topic – main point is what Mayweather Jr. achieved financially won’t be replicated anytime soon.

The Keith Thurman attitude of boxing is back, and the Mayweather Jr., era is finally over – Rest in peace.

Canelo with all his success only has one belt. He is the unified champion of an imaginary division which only exist in his catch-weight world. He has one belt, but somehow he is the A-side? Boxing is about belts, and Canelo is the A-side only holding one belt over Golovkin who is about to become undisputed middleweight champion? It’s just hard to imagine how any fan could support or condone Canelo’s attitude.

Canelo is stiff-footed, he can’t move like Jacobs. If he were to fight Golovkin, Canelo would get dominated on the exchanges, and Golovkin would survive unbroken. Jacobs was rumored to outweigh Golovkin by 19 pounds on the night of their fight on March 18, and he wasn’t able to knockdown Golovkin once. Golovkin hit Jacobs with his jab – not even used his power jab – and Jacobs’ eyes looked like ET by the end of the fight, while Golovkin’s face looked like he just came from a beauty parlor.

I don’t think Canelo wants to fight Golovkin –end of discussion. De La Hoya should stop talking about the fight with Golovkin and move to the middleweight division. In the end of the day, if Golovkin never fights Canelo and vacates, it is the fault of Canelo and De La Hoya; they had the fight at their disposal and clucked instead of making the fight happen. I think De La Hoya is afraid Golovkin will vacate his middleweight titles and move up to the 168 lb. division and the mega fight between the two will never materialize. That would be an unrecoverable financial blow for Golden Boy who expected to generate a big payday from the fight.

Golovkin should become undisputed and venture in the 168lbs division, possibly fighting Andre Ward who is now close to become undisputed, if Adonis Stevenson obviously doesn’t avoid him like he did with Sergey Kovalev. In fact, Golovkin and Ward might both become undisputed and face each other on the 168lbs – something unseen for decades.

I just want Golovkin to move up and not go through the Canelo phase again – it’s a worthless cause.