By Sean Jones: Saul Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) will need to come up with a different game plan for his May 5 rematch with IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs), because he’s not going to be able to surprise him by fighting defensively like he did in their first fight on September 16 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Golovkin looked like he didn’t expect Canelo to employ a safety-first fight last time around. For most of their 12 round fight, Canelo used a great deal movement along the ropes to keep Golovkin from jabbing him as much as he wanted to. Canelo didn’t have the reach or the foot speed to get to the taller, more mobile Golovkin. So, instead of wasting energy trying what wouldn’t have worked anyway, Canelo moved along the ropes and occasionally landed the better shots whenever Golovkin would try and mix it up with his power shots.
If Canelo is going to fight in a defensive manner in the rematch, you can bet Golovkin will be ready for that style. Canelo isn’t going to be able to fool Golovkin a second time with that game plan. For Canelo to trick Golovkin in the rematch, it’s going to require more than him hugging the ropes all night long. That game plan has been played out already.
What might have caused Golovkin to not prepare fully for a defensive-minded Canelo was the size that the Mexican star put on during the training camp. Canelo looked like he added 20 pounds at least from the weight that he was at when the two of them met for their kickoff press conference 2 months before the fight.
It’s not easy to put on muscle quickly, but Canelo was able to seemingly add a tremendous amount of weight in a brief period. Canelo’s upper body looked blown up in size. Before the GGG fight, Canelo had never been so muscular and defined in his career. Canelo looked like he had signed up for one of those Charles Atlas courses that you see in the back of a comic book. Canelo wasn’t weighed the night of the fight, but he looked considerably heavier than Golovkin. Adding all that weight in a short period of time hurt Canelo’s ability to fight hard. His cardiovascular system only enabled Canelo to fight for 45 seconds of each round. Canelo was resting the remainder of each round. That’s the bad thing about bulking up 20 to 30 pounds in 8 weeks. When you put that kind of muscle weight is put on quickly, it’s hard on a person’s stamina.
The size that Canelo was able to add to his physique in such a fleeting period might have given Golovkin and his trainer Abel Sanchez the belief that he was going to try and use the muscle to slug it out. However, when Canelo fought defensively against Golovkin, it clearly confused him and that kept him being able to dominate as much as he could have. I still think Golovkin easily won the fight 9 rounds to 3, but it might have ended with a knockout if he’d been aware that Canelo was going to play it safe.
The potential game plans for Canelo to use for the Golovkin rematch are one or of the following:
1. Fight defensively along the ropes – use the same game plan as the first fight by moving along the ropes for 12 rounds
2. Go after Golovkin to pressure him. This is how Canelo usually fights
3. Attack in brief spurts and rest afterwards by going to the ropes for a breather
4. Slug it out with Golovkin in center ring
5. Use jab exclusively
6. Bulk up again and try to outsize Golovkin
Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez said recently that he might have the negotiations for the Canelo-Golovkin fight done by Christmas. Hopefully there will be news from Gomez and Golden Boy soon about the fight.