Sanchez: Canelo’s trainers should know which meats to avoid

By Boxing News - 03/08/2018 - Comments

Image: Sanchez: Canelo’s trainers should know which meats to avoid

By Dan Ambrose: Abel Sanchez says Saul Canelo Alvarez’s trainer Chepo Reynoso should have known which type of meats to avoid eating to prevent being exposed to clenbuterol. Canelo tested positive for the drug in two tests conducted by VADA on February 17th and February while getting ready for his rematch against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) on May 5h at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sanchez says Reynoso was a former butcher in Mexico and should have been knowledgeable on the types of meats that were OK for Canelo to eat.

“Canelo’s trainer, Chepo Reynoso used to be a butcher, he’s in the meat business, he should know which meats to avoid because of this problem in Mexico,” Sanchez said to RingTV.com.

Despite using the excuse that his positive test for clenbuterol was due to him eating tainted meat, Canelo is being investigated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Without the tainted meat still in Canelo’s home, the Commission will likely have to take Canelo’s word that he ate meat in Mexico that contained clenbuterol. But with Canelo likely being cleared without being suspended and/or fined by the Commission, it could give the green light to other fighters to load up clenbuterol and then use the same excuse that they ate tainted meat. If one of the commissions tries to penalize those fighters, they can always point to Canelo as being an example of a fighter that got away with testing positive without any negative repercussions, aside from his reputation taking a big hit.

Golovkin says he’ll be fine with whatever the Nevada Commission decides at the end of their investigation of the 27-old Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs). Golovkin sounds like he just wants to fight Canelo no matter what. He wants the rematch with Canelo, so he can beat him in a decisive enough manner where the judges can’t take the win away from him. Golovkin already knows that Canelo always runs to the left to avoid being trapped and worn down. If Canelo decides to run from Golovkin in the rematch, he’ll be ready to trap cut off his escape route.

”If the commission says everything is OK, then I will accept that, and I’m going to be ready to fight,” Golovkin said to RingTV.com. “If Canelo is clean then I want to prove that I’m better than him. That’s why I’m in camp now.”

Sanchez says Canelo will be run out of his own hometown in Mexico if he doesn’t follow through with what he’s been saying that he would look to make it an exciting fight with Golovkin in the rematch. Sanchez says Canelo told his boxing fan before the first fight with GGG that he was going to go to war with him. Unfortunately, Canelo didn’t do that. He ran from him. Now he’s saying he’s going to knockout Golovkin and not let the judges have a say so in scoring the fight.

Sanchez says Canelo is going to take massive criticism from the boxing public if he doesn’t follow through. Canelo has done the opposite of what he said he was going to do in his last 2 fights against GGG and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I think it’s reasonable to assume that Canelo will fight Golovkin just like he did last time by fighting with his back against the ropes, waiting for him to attack and then looking to counter and move away to the left. It worked well enough for Canelo to get a 12 round draw against Triple G. I think Canelo might be fine with fighting for a draw rather than going straight at GGG and getting hit hard and knocked out.

“Now he’s going to be under even more scrutiny with 2 months away from the fight, which is good,” said Sanchez to Behind The Gloves. “Canelo is going to have pressure on him. As much as he talked about knocking Golovkin out. He’s talked about how he’s not going to need the judges. He’s going to have to go out and try to knock Golovkin out. By doing that, he’s going to have to be in range for both guys to hit each other. If he does that, I think it’ll be the first we expected the first time. If he decides to run again, I think the fans, the Mexican fans, are going to run him out of his home, because he promised something he’s not going to come through with. I’m not saying go toe-to-toe. I’m saying give the type of fight the fans want,” said Sanchez.

Canelo might not have the ability to fight Golovkin the way that the boxing fans want him to. Even though Canelo will likely be weighing well into the 180s on the night of the fight, his size advantage over Golovkin won’t help him, because he doesn’t have the stamina to use it. Canelo is moving his training camp from Mexico to the mountains of Colorado to train at high altitude. This is a move that Canelo hopes will improve his conditioning for the fight. I don’t know if it will. Running in the mountains isn’t the same thing as being in a fight and being forced to slug it out.

Canelo’s physique isn’t designed for high paced fights for 10 to 12 rounds. Canelo is built for short bursts and quick knockouts. If Canelo doesn’t get his knockouts, then he needs plenty of rest breaks in each round for him to replenish his energy. Training in the mountains isn’t going to fix Canelo’s stamina problems.