By Dan Ambrose: Two weeks after former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) drew a line in the sand in terms of telling IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) that he’ll have to fight him at a catch-weight of 155 pounds if he wants to face him in the near future, Golovkin has answered back by saying there’s no way he’s going to fight the 25-year-old Canelo at a catch-weight of 155, 156 or 158.
If Canelo wants the fight with him, he’ll have to fight him at the full weight of 160lbs for the middleweight division. Golovkin says he would only go down in weight to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“There is no chance that I will go to 155-pounds for a ‘Canelo’ fight. The division limit is 160 pounds, this is my weight class,” Golovkin said to ESPN Deportes. ”I am a fighter; I am here not for business. I fight at middleweight or super middleweight. So, no chance I go to 156 or 158, that’s just business. I think I would go to 154 just for a fight with Floyd Mayweather. He is number one in the world,” Golovkin said.
This is bad news for boxing fans who were hoping to see Golovkin fight Canelo and Miguel Cotto, because both of those guys would likely insist that Golovkin fight them at a catch-weight of 155lbs.
To be sure, Cotto, 35, has a good argument for not wanting to fight Golovkin at the full weight for the middleweight division, but that argument disappears now that Cotto is the WBC middleweight champion. Some boxing fans believe that Cotto is tarnishing the WBC middleweight belt by insisting on fighting at catch-weights when defending it.
Canelo has even less of a reason to use a catch-weight for a fight against Golovkin, because he’s roughly the same size as him after he rehydrates. Canelo has been as high as 175 after rehydrating for his fights at 155, and that’s heavier than Golovkin. The thing with Canelo is he’s very good at draining down in weight and then putting the weight back on in 24 hours before his fights.
The winner of the Cotto-Canelo fight can’t force Golovkin to fight at a catch-weight, because he’s the WBC mandatory challenger. All they can do is ask politely. If he says no, which he clearly is saying right here, then they’ll either have to agree to fight him at the full weight for the 160lb division or they’ll need to vacate the WBC title.
Golovkin is more focused on capturing all the middleweight titles rather than just looking to make as much money as possible, which is what it appears Canelo and Cotto are more focused on right now.
Golovkin wants to add the WBC title to his collection and then go after the WBO belt. That’s the last remaining title at 160 that wouldn’t be in Golovkin’s possession once he picks up the WBC title. Golovkin wants to win that belt, and defend his titles against the top middleweights before moving up to super middleweight to look to get some big fights in that division.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to see a Golovkin-Canelo or Golovkin-Cotto fight anytime soon. I doubt that Canelo and Cotto are going to lose any sleep at not getting a fight against Golovkin, because I don’t think they really care.
Those fighters can make good money just fighting the top contenders at 154 and 160. It’ll obviously remove any chances for them to fight for any of the middleweight titles once Golovkin has captured them all unless they want to go after the WBA “regular” champion Daniel Jacobs. If they win that belt, then Golovkin wouldn’t be able to fight them until the World Boxing Association forces the issue, which is doubtful.
By Golovkin saying he has no interest in fighting Canelo at a catch-weight, then it takes away the power that Canelo has. With Golovkin not interesting in bending over to fulfill Canelo’s request for a handicap weight, it means that Canelo will either need to change his mind about needing handicap or move on in another direction with his career.
That might work out better for Canelo because his promoter Oscar De La Hoya has already said recently that a fight between Canelo and Golovkin can happen at some point in the future. He’s even gone so far as to say that the fight can happen in 2 years.
If that’s going to be the case, then Canelo will need to be ready to fight at the full weight of 160lbs by then because it’s doubtful that Golovkin will change his mind about wanting to use a catch-weight handicap for Canelo.
What’s unclear is why Canelo would even need a catch-weight to begin with to fight Golovkin. With Canelo being the bigger fighter than Golovkin by 5 pounds, why does he need a catch-weight to fight him? Some boxing fans believe that the only reason Canelo would want a catch-weight for a fight against Golovkin, because he’s proven to be very good at dropping 20 pounds of water weight to make weight. Golovkin hasn’t ever done this before.
Golovkin usually takes off 10-12 pounds of water weight to get down to 160. If he’s forced to drain down to 155, he’d be losing between 15 to 17 pounds, and that might be hard on his system. The younger fighters seem to be able to lose large amounts of water weight to make weight easier than it is for the older fighters. Golovkin I 33-years-old and he is not as young as the 25-year-old Canelo. For that reason, it’s probably really hard for Golovkin to lose the same kinds of weight that Canelo can.
Canelo thinks of himself as a fearless warrior who isn’t afraid of fighting anyone in boxing. Well, this is Canelo’s big chance to fight Golovkin at the full weight for the middleweight division. If Canelo is really a warrior, then he should be willing to fight him at the full weight for the 160lb division. I don’t think Canelo will be too worried about missing out on the Golovkin fight. I can see Canelo focusing more on money and looking to fight Cotto as many times as possible.
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