By Dan Ambrose: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez says he knows he’s going to beat Gennady Golovkin, and he’s always known that he was going to be the one to defeat him. Canelo says he doesn’t want to do a lot of talking but on September 16th, he’s going to show the boxing world what he’s already know when he meets up with the 35-year-old Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs).
Canelo is the underdog right now for the fight, but the odds could narrow as the fight draws closer to the point where we might even see him as the favor when they meet up at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Danny Jacobs thinks Golovkin is going to win. He’s sized up both fighters, and he feels that Golovkin will win based on his size advantage over Canelo. When the two fighters stand facing each, Golovkin is considerably bigger than Canelo. Of course, Canelo looked a lot smaller than his last opponent Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and he beat him with ease. That’s a different story though. Chavez Jr. looked weak from making weight, and mentally not willing to throw punches.
Chavez Jr. appeared as a beaten fighter before the first punch was thrown. It was good match-making by Golden Boy to select Chavez Jr., but for the boxing fans that dumped their money on this atrocious fight on HBO PPV. Golovkin will be a different story for Canelo, because he’s going to be throwing punches from the first seconds of the fight, and he’s not going to be weight drained or mentally shot the way Chavez Jr. looked.
160 is Golovkin’s natural weight class. There isn’t a catch-weight that will drain him like there was in the Canelo-Chavez Jr. fight. You can argue that fight was won based on the catch-weight of 164.5 lbs. for Canelo.
“I’m excited. These types of fights motivate me, especially when fans say I can’t do this and it’s not going to happen,” said Canelo to Fighthub about his fight against Triple G. “It motivates me more. I know I can beat him. I’ve always thought that. I don’t want to talk more than I should, but on September 16th, you’ll see why. I feel so confident, but I’ve always been so confident,” said Canelo in talking about his thoughts on the GGG clash.
There are plenty of boxing fans, trainers, fighters and former fighters that are picking Canelo to beat Golovkin. Canelo doesn’t need to see it like someone with a chip on his shoulder. There are a lot of people that are predicting a win for Canelo Alvarez. But you can fully understand why the boxing world as a whole is picking Golovkin to win the fight. He’s got a lot of advantages in this fight.
Here are the advantages that Golovkin has over Canelo:
– Size
– Power
– Experience
– Ring IQ
– Jab
– Chin
– Stamina
Any one of those areas is probably going to be enough for Golovkin to beat Canelo on September 16, but when you add them altogether, it’s mismatch in favor of Golovkin. That’s way too many areas in favor of Golovkin for the red-headed Mexican star to have a chance of winning this fight.
These are the areas that Canelo had going for him in this fight with GGG:
– Speed
– Youth
– Fans
– Judges?
I put a question mark next to the judges because I’m not sure that the judges will play a role in this fight. If the fight is anywhere close like the Golovkin vs. Danny Jacobs fight was last March, then I think the judges will give the fight to Canelo. If Canelo was in Jacobs’ position fighting Golovkin with the same fight, I think Canelo would be given the win.
The crowd would be screaming for Canelo the entire fight, and I think the judges would be following the cheering in giving rounds to him. But I don’t think Golovkin is going to allow the fight to go to the scorecards. I see him scoring a knockout in this fight.
“They’re going to elevate their games. They’re going to move on to a whole different new level of competing,” said De La Hoya about Canelo and Golovkin. “They’re going to be different fighters, fighters that we’ve never ever seen before. We’re going to see the best of Golovkin, and the very, very best of Canelo. As an ex-fighter, I’m really excited and I’m talking to my partner Bernard Hopkins about the fight and he feels this can be the best middleweight fight we’ve ever seen in the history of the sport,” said De La Hoya.
We’ll see a different Golovkin from the performance he put in against Danny Jacobs on March 18. I think Golovkin realizes he made an error by choosing to box Jacobs instead of sticking with his normal style of slugging. I think Golovkin did that intentionally to try and look vulnerable so that he could get Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions to give him the fight.
If that was GGG’s strategy for the fight, then it worked perfectly, because as soon as the fight was over, De La Hoya started showing serious interest in wanting to make the Canelo-Golovkin fight. It’ll be bad news for De La Hoya if the Golovkin that we see on September 16 is the same guy that destroyed Dominic Wade and David Lemieux. If that’s the Golovkin that shows up to fight Canelo, it’s going to be a bad night for him.
The Golovkin that destroyed Wade and Lemieux is going to be far too good for Canelo. I honestly believe that Golovkin took it easy on Kell Brook and Jacobs. What gave me the indication that Golovkin didn’t go all out against Jacobs was how he backed off and didn’t go for the knockout after he dropped him in the 4th. I’ve never seen Golovkin back off when he’s knocked an opponent down before until that fight. It was totally uncanny what Golovkin did after he dropped Jacobs. For him not to look for the coup de grace, I can only conclude that he just left him out there so he could go the distance in order not to look good. In watching the Golovkin-Brook fight, Golovkin didn’t hit Brook hard more than once in round 1, and that was the shot that fractured his right eye socket. Golovkin’s next big punch came in the 3rd round when he nailed Brook with a right hand that sent him on the run. You could hear the sound of that shot all though the O2 Arena. It was a thudding sound. The punch knocked the fight out of Brook completely, causing him to run for the duration of the fight.
“I’m hearing a lot of great things. A lot of people want me on the Canelo-Golovkin undercard,” said Jacobs to Fighthub.
It would be good to have Jacobs on the undercard of the Canelo vs. GGG fight. However, Jacobs won’t be fighting David Lemieux. He says that Lemieux told him he’s got other plans. That’s bad news because Lemieux vs. Jacobs would have been an excellent fight. It might not be easy for Jacobs’ management to find him a good opponent that’s willing to fight him. Jacobs is too risky for the average contender to agree to fight him. I could see someone like Tureano Johnson agreeing to fight Jacobs. That would be a tough fight for Jacobs, because Johnson is a puncher with a good chin. If Johnson is healthy, he’d be a nightmare for Jacobs.
“100 percent,” said Jacobs when asked if he exposed Golovkin in their fight on March 18. “We’ve never seen Triple G like that before. Hands down, win, lose or draw, you didn’t see the person you used to see that you portrayed to the world,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs didn’t win the fight against GGG. You only expose a fighter when you win, not when you lose. Jacobs had his moments in the second half of the fight, but he didn’t do enough. Golovkin won most of the first 6 rounds, and he knocked Jacobs down in the 4th. Jacobs didn’t do enough in the championship rounds in the 10th through 12 for him to get the ‘W’ in the fight.
“It doesn’t matter to me who wins the fight,” said Jacobs about the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. “I think Triple G wins it, because he’s the bigger guy. I’ll fight the winner or the loser. I’m hearing rumors about the undercard. I’m just glad I’m a guy that people want to see again,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs has obviously seen how much bigger Golovkin is than Canelo. The size is going to be too much for Canelo to deal with and overcome in this fight.
“I called David Lemieux out,” said Jacobs. “He says he has bigger plans. I don’t know what your bigger plans are. I just heard the Billy Joe Saunders fight got canceled. I have really good options. I’m just fortunate to be in this position,” said Jacobs
I’m not surprised that Lemieux isn’t chomping at the bit to fight Jacobs, because it would be a risky fight. But with that said, I see that as a 50-50 fight. Lemieux is a bigger puncher than Dmitry Pirog, and we saw what Pirog did to Jacobs. If Lemieux lands a big shots in the first 6 rounds, Jacobs is going to be down for the count. Lemieux hits too hard and he’s so dangerous in the first half of the fight. Lemieux’s stamina seems to have gotten better lately. He’s dangerous throughout his fights now. If Jacobs doesn’t knockout Lemieux in the first 4 rounds, I think the Canadian would destroy him.
“I have experience. The Mexican style is a bonus,” said Golovkin at the London press conference with Canelo. “The Mexican [fighting] style is a big bonus for the people. Boxing is boxing. If you have Mexican experience, it’s definitely first class like a true warrior. It’s like a true fight, not dancing, and not show. This is bonus for fans,” said GGG.
It sounds like Golovkin wants to turn his fight against Canelo into a war on September 16. When GGG talks about his Mexican style of fighting, he usually turns his fights into a war. Golovkin didn’t walk about “Mexican style” before his fight with Jacobs, and he didn’t get the knockout in that fight. He just played it safe in fighting behind his jab for 12 rounds.
“There’s a lot of possibility that this fight will end by a knockout, because both can punch and both have a high knockout ratio,” said Canelo. “I’m Mexican and he has a trainer that’s Mexican that has taught him. If that’s the case, then you guys are in for a great fight on September 16th. There’s a high probability that this is going to be a knockout,” said Canelo.
