A lot has been made over the sparring sessions between Boxing’s No. 1 superhero and undefeated WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO middleweight world champion GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN (37-0, 33 KOs) and The Ring magazine and lineal middleweight champion CANELO ALVAREZ (49-1-1, 34 KOs) which took place many years ago. Golovkin, boxing’s longest-reigning world champion, has discounted the significance of those sessions.
“Those sparring sessions mean nothing,” Golovkin said. “We helped each other. Don’t read anything into it.”
But what about the recent sparring sessions? Oh yes!
On June 20, during the New York leg of the fighters’ UK/US media tour, they stopped at The Wall Street Journal for an editorial roundtable. At the conclusion of the interview, the world champions adjourned to The Journal’s upstairs studio to film them duking it out for five rounds — of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. Supervised by Jason “Enola” Gay, The Journal’s Mr. Peabody Award-winning columnist, Golovkin and Alvarez proceeded to try and knock each other’s block off. Well, Alvarez tried. Golovkin succeeded — four out of five times.
“If ever there was a harbinger of what will come on September 16, it was that morning at The Wall Street Journal,” said Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter and well-known Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots whistleblower. “After Gennady knocked Canelo’s block off for the third consecutive time everyone was getting uncomfortable in the studio. With all the excuses that were coming from their side you’d have thought the WBC had sanctioned this. Gennady finally let Canelo win the fourth bout before closing it out with a stone-cold knockout in the fifth and final fight. The version The Journal put out was edited to make it look even, but there are plenty of witnesses who know the truth.”
“We have the raw footage. It was taken by a member of Team Golovkin,” said Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s longtime head trainer. “I’ve studied that footage and it confirms what I have been saying for years. Canelo’s a slapper. He couldn’t handle Gennady’s pressure and power then and he won’t be able to on Saturday night. On Fight Night, you will hear his corner say the same thing they said at The Wall Street Journal on June 20. No Mas.”
Video Credit: The Wall Street Journal
