By Juan Flores: Gennady “GGG” Golovkin isn’t sure whether there will be a second fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for next year. Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) says he’s ready and willing to fight Canelo in May, but he’s not sure if he’ll be ready to fight him at that time.
Golovkin notes that he has his IBF, IBO, WBA and WBC middleweight titles still and he’ll be ready to fight in May against somebody.
Canelo wants the rematch with Golovkin, but he has other options available to him in the David Lemieux vs. Billy Joe Saunders fight. The winner of that fight will give Canelo a chance to fight for the WBO middleweight title. Beating the winner of the Saunders-Lemieux fight would make Canelo a 2-time 160 champion. There’s also a slight possibility that Canelo could face WBO junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto if he decides not to retire after his December 2 title defense against Sadam Ali. Canelo already fought and beat Cotto in 2015. A rematch between them would likely bring in a huge number of pay-per-view buys on HBO. It would be a great fight for the boxing public for Canelo to take before he explores the idea of facing Golovkin again.
“I do not know if there will be a second fight, rather we should ask him, I’m ready, I have my championships, I’ll be ready for May,” said Golovkin to ESPN Deportes. “I was surprised that he said he beat me, because he did not beat me.”
GGG almost sounds childish here in casting doubt about the rematch with Canelo. Golovkin needs realize the fight will happen when it’s meant to. The two will face each other again, but not until everything is perfect. That means the right time, the right venue and the right percentage split of the money.
Canelo and GGG fought to a 12 round draw on September 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The judges were split in who they felt was the winner of the fight. One judge had it 118-110 for Canelo, and another had it 115-113 for GGG. The third judge scored it 114-114. This writer saw Canelo winning 116-112. Canelo landed the cleaner shots in virtually every round of the fight.
You can understand how judge Adelaide Byrd scored the fight 10 rounds to 2, when you look at the cleaner and harder shots that Canelo was landing. That’s what Adelaide was looking at obviously when she scored the fight for Canelo by a lopsided score. Golovkin wasn’t taking any risks at all. he was landing weak jabs, and looking afraid to mix it up with Canelo. GGG came into the fight with the reputation for being the hardest puncher in the middleweight division, but it was clear that Canelo was the superior puncher of the two and the guy with the much faster hand speed. Byrd saw the speed and power of the shots that Canelo landing, and she scored it for him accordingly. I gave Golovkin 4 rounds, but I can see where you can argue that he only won 2 rounds of the fight. She did a good job scoring the fight in my opinion.
The fight brought in 1.5 million buys on HBO pay-per-view. That’s a lot of buys. Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions would like a rematch with Golovkin, but it has to come at the right time and at the right price. If Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler are going to push too hard for parity in the negotiations, then fight won’t take place. Golovkin has to know his value in the negotiations. Right now, I think he might be a little too eager to take a slice of the pie that Canelo and Golden Boy aren’t agreeable to.
“I do not think he felt comfortable in the ring,” said Golovkin in talking about Canelo. ”If he had been comfortable, he would have beaten me. With me, sometimes the fights are more difficult. In fact, I think the first one was good, but the second will be a lot more interesting,” said Golovkin.
Golovkin said he was going to take the fight to Canelo and fight him using the “Mexican style” before their September 16 fight, but we didn’t see that from him. Golovkin fought a safety first fight like we saw from Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his match with Canelo in 2013. Golovkin was just jabbing Canelo, and failing to try hard to win the rounds. Golovkin seemed to believe that he could beat a superstar like Canelo by jabbing him from the outside instead of getting into the pit and fighting him man to man.
It was a disappointment, because the boxing fans had expected more from Golovkin than what he showed. Golovkin looked and fought like he was afraid of Canelo. In a nutshell, that’s why 2 of the 3 judges failed to give Golovkin the victory. He was fighting with an amateur style against a seasoned pro in Canelo. Even though Canelo was younger than the 35-year-old Golovkin at 27, he seemed like the much more experienced fighter of the two and the guy more suited to the pro game. If Golovkin wants to beat Canelo in the rematch, if there ever is one, then he’s going to need to make huge alterations to the way he fights.
Golovkin just stand on the outside and peck away at Canelo with jabs and expect the judges to give him the decision. That’s not going to work. Maybe that might work with some judges, but I think most of the quality judges are going to expect Golovkin to bring more to the table if he wants to beat Canelo. It’s not about Canelo dodging a fight due to his popularity, which some boxing fans believe to be the case. To beat Canelo, you have to land the better shots in each round, as he’s going to be winning the fight with his cleaner landing punches if GGG fails to land his own big punches.
Canelo looked really comfortable against Golovkin. I’m not sure what Triple G is talking about. Canelo was perfectly comfortable the entire fight. He fought well, and was taking the fight to Golovkin from rounds 10, 11 and 12. Canelo finished the fight strong after winning the first 3 rounds, and then taking a few rounds off in the middle of the fight. Canelo fought well from the 8th until the end of the fight in the 12th.
Golovkin might as well forget about the rematch with Canelo if he’s not going to take more chances the next time around. If all Golovkin is going to do is box Canelo, then it’s not going to work out for him. Golovkin should move in another direction and face someone that he can beat using that style, because I don’t think the judges are going to give him a decision win over Canelo in the rematch without him turning the fight into a war.