De La Hoya talks Golovkin as potential opponent for Canelo

By Boxing News - 07/14/2014 - Comments

golovkin6By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions surprisingly mentioned Gennady Golovkin’s name as one of the potential opponents for his fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) for his next bout in November. Golovkin’s name was mentioned along with James Kirkland and Miguel Cotto, but you can dismiss Cotto because he definitely isn’t available for November.

De La Hoya said this as quoted by Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated: “Gennady Golovkin. ‘GGG’ is a dangerous fighter. That’s what Canelo is about.”

If this is what Canelo is about, him facing only the best, then Golovkin is the ideal opponent for him to fight next November. Canelo wants to fight Cotto in May of next year, and Cotto is seen by many boxing fans to be the No.2 fighter in the middleweight division after Golovkin.

If Canelo wants to be seen as someone who only takes dangerous opponents then he needs to actually prove it by skipping straight to the top instead of wasting time with Cotto and James Kirkland. Cotto is a good fight for Canelo, but it’s not a fight that can take place in November, and we’re still essentially talking about Canelo fighting the No.2 fighter at 160 and not the No.1 guy in Golovkin.

Canelo would have a built in excuse if he loses to Golovkin, because he could point out that he was moving up in weight to fight the best fighter in the middleweight division. As long as Canelo doesn’t take too bad of a pounding from Golovkin, he might come out of not looking all that bad. A loss to Golovkin could still make Canelo look good as long as he’s competitive. But of course if Canelo gets blown out by Golovkin, which is a very real possibility, then he’d take a hard hit in terms of his marketability.

With his controversial and less than impressive performance against Erislandy Lara last Saturday night, Canelo absolutely needs to fight Golovkin next, because fighting James Kirkland isn’t going to do much to change the minds of fans who were turned off by the controversy surrounding the Canelo-Lara fight.

Even if Canelo knocks Kirkland out, it’s not going to make people forget what happened to him in his fights against Lara, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Austin Trout. Those three guys gave Canelo fits. The only fighter that can do something to change people’s minds about Canelo is Golovkin. He’s only one good enough to make boxing fans take notice of Canelo if he beats him.

The magical question is will De La Hoya let his franchise fighter Canelo fight a guy as good as Golovkin? I kind of doubt it. Both fighters weigh the same amount when they fight, as Golovkin is a small middleweight capable of fighting at junior middleweight like Canelo. But Golovkin is so much stronger than Canelo, and arguably a lot more skilled as well.

It’s likely that the only way a Canelo-Golovkin fight takes place is if Canelo steps up and pushes De La Hoya to make the fight happen. Other than that, I see De La Hoya steering Canelo into a safe fight against Kirkland next November. Kirkland was knocked out in one round by former Golovkin knockout victim Nobuhiro Ishida in 2011. That right there shows you how softly De La Hoya would be matching Canelo if he were to put him in with Kirkland.

I see Canelo as not wanting anything to do with a guy like Golovkin. Yeah, Canelo says he only wants to fight the best, but Golovkin is really the best, and not guys that Canelo has been facing lately with the exception of Floyd Mayweather Jr.



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