By Greg Houghton: For quite some time, myself and many other boxing fans thought this event would never happen. Seeing Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and GGG’s faces projected on the same poster is almost as difficult to comprehend as when we finally saw Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in the ring together.
It’s a blisteringly hot afternoon in New York City on Tuesday 20th June 2017. Madison Square Garden has been awash with flashing posters of ‘Canelo vs. GGG- September 16th’ all day. In remembering that Golovkin has 3 of the 4 titles at 160, you’d be forgiven for questioning why Canelo’s name is first on the poster. After Canelo vacated the WBC belt last year, many boxing fans feared that this fight just would not happen. But here it is.
The pre-conference red carpet section of the event is filled with some familiar media faces. Oscar De-La-Hoya is first to appear and gives typically thorough answers to the media. You can feel Oscar wants in making this fight as big as possible, particularly now it will be potentially dwarfed by the Mayweather McGregor fight. Throughout the evening, Oscar frequently refers to the Canelo GGG fight as ‘the real fight’. No prizes for guessing what that means.
When poked a couple of times about the upcoming “Super fight” between Mayweather and McGregor, he remains calm and doesn’t delve too deep into his views expressed in his recent instagram post of the fight being bad for boxing. It seems that when the cameras are on him, he’s a little more subdued than in his recent social media outburst.
Eventually Golovkin appears. My first thought is that I can’t believe how big this guy is. For someone who is apparently 5”10 and 160lbs this guy is huge.
He delivers comment after comment of typically respectful and objective comments on Canelo, Golden Boy, his team and his coach.
As he makes his way through the journalists he maintains his polite, professional and humble demeanor throughout. However, on closer look there is something about this guy that is truly terrifying. Perhaps it’s the stern look that he frequents in between questions, maybe his brief and blunt answers without any expression whatsoever to the press, maybe the language barrier causing his words to sound sharper than he intends, perhaps that his evidently huge physique looks like it could split his suit jacket at any moment. Having watched Gennady on TV since he was fighting in Germany a few years back, I’ve always thought of him as the baby faced nice guy of boxing. On closer inspection, Gennady Golovkin expresses an entirely different aura. As I shake his hand for a quick interview I feel an essence of what reporter Marcos Villegas meant when he said Gennady’s grip is like that of a 200lbs man. Standing in front of him I suddenly think of Kell Brook, and that massive gulp he took on camera just before the bell went for the first round of their fight last September.
It has been widely rumored for months now that GGG has previously gotten the better of Canelo in previous sparring sessions. I ask Golovkin whether he thinks their previous spars will have any relevance in the psychology of the two when they enter the ring once again, which he is quick to shut down by saying
“Sparring is sparring. This is fight. Is different”.
I then ask him, as he’s up against a sharp counter puncher in Canelo, whether he will be doing anything differently in camp to prepare for the fight. He answers “I think so, my coach Abel Sanchez will bring new ideas….. I hope….”. As always, he gives nothing away.
To speak with, Golovkin is the perfect gent, forever thanking the press for their questions, forever giving his time to those who request it. But I can’t focus on how polite he is at this time nor can I contemplate his manners. Something about this guy is ominous.
Inside the theater, it’s clear within seconds that this is a mostly Canelo crowd. Twenty minutes or so is spent at the beginning of the event with an exchange of chants from either side, but every time “Tri-ple-G” is severely overpowered by “Ca-ne-lo” alongside the percussion instruments that the Mexican fans have bought into the auditorium.
The boxers come on to the stage to their allocated seats for the conference. Golovkin and Tom Loeffler walk straight on, Canelo takes his time and waves to the crowd on his entrance whilst strutting next to his stunning bombshell wife who, in heels, stands a good three inches taller than him as they enter. This is the first time I see Canelo all day, and I can hardly believe the size of this guys neck. From about 15 meters away it looks as though Canelo’s head and neck is almost exactly twice the width of Oscar De-La-Hoya.
The atmosphere inside the theater is electric as the premier of I am boxing is shown. Roars from the crowd erupt every time Canelo’s face appears on screen. Ooh’s simmer around the theater as the film shows slow motion clips of Canelo’s previous knockout body shots.
The Mexican crowd continue to get behind their man and step their support up a notch when Oscar addresses the crowd (all be it in a game show host kind of way) in Spanish. This causes Canelo to perform yet another air left uppercut in salute of his adoring fans. Golovkin all the while remains expressionless on the other side of the stage.
On stage Canelo exudes dominant body language as though he’s perched on his sofa at home. Legs spread apart, arm slumped over the back of his chair, playfully pointing out the questionable haircut of one of his team. Some 80% of the fans at Madison Square Garden are here for him and he wears it in his presence.
Meanwhile, at the other side of the stage, Golovkin actually looks bored. One or two whispers from Tom Loeffler cause the middleweight champion to raise an eyebrow, but he’s seated on stage almost deadpan, like someone who’s been there, done it and wants the next press stop to hurry up and come now.
De-La-Hoya continues his game show host antics, bringing fans of each fighter up on stage to give their opinion on the fight so to get a reaction from each fighter’s fans, all in the name of reiterating the power force that is Mexico and team Canelo. At one point, when describing the importance of this fight, Oscar slips on his words, saying “A fight between the two best. One is unbeaten, the other is great…. I mean… they’re both great.”
Golovkin remains unfazed, showing only the occasional shake of his head and smile to his feet when the crowd peak in volume over Oscars words. In fact, on the three separate occasions Golovkin is given the mic and asked a question, the only words that can be heard each time are him thanking all of the crowd for coming out and supporting the fight. That is, until his words are once again drowned out by the Canelo supporters.
As an onlooker, you start to feel frustrated for Golovkin in being booed continuously throughout the event.
At last, the two stare off at the front of the stage before the crowd. Golovkin looks down into the eyes of Canelo with complete lack of expression. Only Canelo knows what the middleweight champion is saying with his eyes. Both fighters are relaxed. Canelo looks right back up at Golovkin with the same relaxed expression as though to show how comfortable he is in this situation. The two lock eyes until the press ask them both to look forward to the camera once again, where Canelo breaks character and throws another left uppercut into the air towards the adoring Mexican crowd. This moment brings me back to the Kell Brook GGG open workout in London last year where Kell jumped on the ropes pumping his fists to the crowd.
Was Canelo’s air punch done out of nervousness? Was he just trying to get his fans to drown Golovkin out? In Vegas, it’s likely to be a mostly Canelo crowd on the night. How big a part could the crowd play in the psychology of these two on Mexican Independence day?
For what seems like the first time for Golovkin, come September 16th, he’s in a 50/50 fight.
