By Allan Fox: Trainer Buddy McGirt says that IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) needs to fight the winner of the May 6th fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and prove that he can beat them in order to erase the stigma surrounding his fight with Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) last March.
Right now, McGirt says that he thinks that Golovkin was exposed by the 30-year-old Jacobs in that fight. He says that Golovkin won’t be able to erase the stain of the Jacobs fight by facing and beating WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in June. That’s not big enough name for Golovkin to make the boxing public forget about the Jacobs fight.
Golovkin needs a BIG win over the Canelo-Chavez Jr. winner to make the fans forget all about how he performed against Jacobs. The thing is, Golovkin beat Jacobs by a 12 round unanimous decision, but it was a close enough fight where some boxing fans, fighters and members of the media though that he should have lost. A rematch between Golovkin and Jacobs would be the ideal thing for GGG to do, but his promoter Tom Loeffler is saying that it’s a fight that they’ll look at down the road after he faces some big names.
“Triple G, I think he got exposed,” said trainer Buddy McGirt to Villianfy Media. “I always said if he fights someone that can take a punch, who’s in good shape, they’re going to expose him and that’s what happened. It did surprise me, and my hats off to Daniel Jacobs,” said McGirt.
It’s hard to know whether Golovkin had problems with Jacobs because of his overly cautious fighting style that night, or if it was another reason like overtraining. Golovkin didn’t throw nearly as many punches as he had in his past fights. It was thought that Jacobs’ great defense was the reason why Golovkin didn’t throw as many punches. It looked more like Golovkin not wanting to get countered by Jacobs, because he tended to get hit back when he would throw his shots in the second half of the fight.
Golovkin still did enough to win by hurting Jacobs in the 10th and taking the 12th round. 2 of the judges gave Jacobs round 12, but he didn’t do much to earn that round. Golovkin was the better fighter in round 12.
“You get the winner of Canelo-Chavez and you win that fight; that will erase the Danny Jacobs fight,” said McGirt. Fighting Billy Joe Saunders is not going to erase the Daniel Jacobs [fight]. To be great, you’ve got to fight the best. Great fighters get beat; great fighters look bad. It happens. You’re not going to look great every fight. To show your greatness, you’ve got to come back now. Fight someone tough and show the world, ‘Look, I had a bad night that night. That will make his greatness better than if he fought Billy Joe Saunders, in my eyes. We don’t know, but as of right now, I’ve got to go with Danny Jacobs, that exposed him,” said McGirt.
GGG might have problems getting motivated for a fight against Billy Joe Saunders if he were to face him on June 10 in Kazakhstan. With all the boxing fans that think Golovkin lost to Jacobs, facing a fighter that is perceived by many to be a lesser fighter than Jacobs, it would make Triple G look like he’s taking a step backwards in choosing a beatable fighter.
Golovkin wants to win the last remaining middleweight title not in his possession before he eventually moves out of the 160 pound division at some point, but it would send the wrong message if he were to fight Saunders right now. Golovkin really needs to either sit and wait on the winner of the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight or face Jacobs in a rematch if one can be negotiated. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler isn’t going to put him in another risky fight with Jacobs, not after the close call he had last month in their fight on March 18 at Madison Square Garden.
Golovkin will wait until the smoke clears from the Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. fight before he makes his move. If Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions decide they only want to offer Golovkin peanuts for the fight, then that obviously would mean that they’re not ready yet to fight him. Golovkin could then look to fight Saunders or a rematch with Jacobs.
Saunders’ promoter Frank Warren recently said that he had heard that Golovkin was injured. Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez said that he’s not injured at all, just sore. It would looks like Golovkin and Loeffler are more interested in the Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. winner right now rather than a fight with Saunders.
“I don’t know if he has an injury or not, because obviously I don’t know,” said Mikey Garcia to Dontae’s Boxing Nation about Golovkin being possibly injured and unable to fight Billy Joe Saunders. “I saw him throw blows in 12 rounds and hard blows, so there could possibly be an injury. But it could also be a strategy to negotiate another fight. He’s in a position to negotiate. He’s got the belts. Yeah, Saunders is there and he has a championship belt too, but Golovkin is still probably considered the top guy right now. So he’s got options and he’s looking at other options too,” said Mikey.
Golovkin is definitely the top guy at middleweight right now. Canelo is the Ring Magazine middleweight champion, but he’s not seen as the champion by the boxing public. Belts are important to a certain extent, but I’m not sure that it’s going to help GGG get a better deal for a fight with Canelo. Golden Boy Promotions has too many other options for Canelo right now and that takes away a lot of Golovkin’s negotiating muscle.
“I thought Jacobs would have won, and I still think he actually pulled it off. I picked him. I remember him from the amateurs. He’s got the size. He’s got the speed. He’s got the power and qualities that former opponents of Golovkin didn’t have. I thought Danny Jacobs was going to be the toughest and the most chances of beating him, and he did in my eyes. He fought great and easily could have won. It didn’t go his way, but a lot of people thought he won also. That’s where you really see what type of championship fighter Danny Jacobs is. It’s not exposed,” said Mikey about Golovkin. “You’re fighting another type of guy, another top level fighter, a champion who’s bringing everything he has. Put Golovkin in with anyone else that’s not at that level and he’s going to dominate clearly. But bring someone at that level and you’re not going to get the same results. Even with champions there’s levels. You have 4 champions now. 1-2 could be the weakest, and the top 2 could be the top guys. It just is,” said Mikey in trying to explain why Golovkin had problems with Jacobs.
Mikey Garcia is yet another fighter that thinks Jacobs did enough to earn the victory. Mikey isn’t saying which rounds he thought Jacobs won, and by how many rounds he saw him winning by. Jacobs definitely did better in the second half of the fight.
