Canelo: I didn’t feel Golovkin’s power when I sparred him

By Boxing News - 10/23/2015 - Comments

1-CANELO ALVAREZ 01By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) says he didn’t feel IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s huge punching power during their sparring sessions five years ago when the two of them worked out in the gym.

Canelo notes that Golovkin was a strong fighter back then, but he didn’t feel the power that other’s claim that he has. Canelo figures that the reason why he didn’t feel Golovkin’s punching power because of his own power. I’m not sure if that has anything to do with it though. If a person has power, you should feel it whether you can punch hard yourself or not.

If Canelo’s recollection of Golovkin’s power as not being strong enough for him to feel it, then it could be one of two things that caused this; One, it could be that Golovkin wasn’t going all out on the then 20-year-old Canelo.

After all, he was the one holding down a title, and facing a guy much younger than him. Two, I think large 16-oz gloves that Golovkin was wearing and the head gear that Canelo must have had on would have done something to cushion the blows from Golovkin.

“Well, it [Golovkin vs. Lemieux fight] was really slow at the beginning, and just the jab alone of Golovkin finished Golovkin,” Canelo said to Fighthype. “Lemieux didn’t have anything that night. I did a lot of sparring with him in the past, and I was 20-years-old when I did it, but I know what I can do. He’s a strong fighter. He’s a strong fighter more than anything, but he also knows how to do various things. Yes, me and him could throw hard because in a lot of sparring you can’t throw hard with your full potential. Me and him were able to do it, and it was one world champion middleweight against a world champion super welterweight. You don’t always see that. It was very good. He’s a very strong fighter, but I think I am also. I didn’t feel him/the power like people say, and that’s probably because I’m a strong fighter also,” Canelo said.

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What Canelo doesn’t say about the two of them in mentioning that he was a 154lb champ and Golovkin the 160lb champ is that Canelo likely weighed just the same as Golovkin if not more than him. Canelo had the size to fight in the middleweight division even five years ago in 2010.

Canelo and Golovkin could wind up facing each other in the near future if Canelo defeats WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) in their fight on November 21st. However, Canelo says that Golovkin would need to agree to fight him at a catch-weight of 155lbs, because he still doesn’t see himself as having grown into the middleweight division yet. Canelo weighs between 170-175 pounds for his catch-weights at 155, which makes him a little bit bigger than Golovkin.

It’s unknown when and at what weight Canelo will feel that he is eventually a middleweight. You would have to assume that 175lbs won’t be heavy enough for Canelo to feel that he’s a middleweight, because he’s already weighed that in the past when rehydrating.

It could be that Canelo will feel like he’s a middleweight when he rehydrates to 180+ pounds, which would mean that he would need to strip off 20 pounds of water weight each time he makes weight for his fights at 160. Just how long Canelo would be able to do that as he gets older is the big question.

It can’t be an easy thing for an older fighter to lose that much weight. Canelo can do it now because he’s only 25, but I don’t know if he’s going to be able to keep on doing that as he gets older.