(Photo credit: World Boxing Council) By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. says he does not think IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) is a good fighter at all, and he feels that WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) will likely still beat him in their fight in 2016.
Floyd Sr. says that Golovkin has slow hand speed, and he was not impressed with how he looked in his fight against Willie Monroe Jr. earlier this year in May. Golovkin won the fight by a 6th round knockout, but Monroe had his moments in the fight in landing some nice shots in rounds 3 through 5.
Golovkin looked out of breath in between rounds, and he appeared to be struggling with Monroe until hurting him in round 5 and finishing him off in round 6.
“I think so [that Canelo can beat Golovkin]. I’m not going to say he can’t win now because he’s [Canelo] young,” Mayweather Sr. said to Thaboxingvoice. “Golovkin is not really fast at all. I have seen him fight one of those boys [Willie Monroe Jr]. Yeah, he is not too good a fighter. Triple G is not a good fighter at all. I’m going to be honest with you; I can see whatchamacallit [Canelo] pulling it off,” Floyd Sr. said about him thinking Canelo beats Golovkin.
Golovkin might not get any credit if he beats Canelo next year. Even if Golvokin destroys Canelo, there will be guys like Floyd Sr. saying he doesn’t have fast hands, so he’s not very good. Floyd Sr. seems to be hung up on fast hands for some reason, as if having fast hands mean you are going to win every time.
If it were that way then you could weed out top fighters like Sergey Kovalev and many other champions who do not possess fast hands. More than likely if Golovkin defeats Canelo, boxing fans and people like Floyd Sr. will say that Golovkin fought Canelo before he reached the peak of his career.
The thing is Floyd Sr’s son Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Canelo when he was only 23-years-old, and he had the benefit of a catch-weight of 152lbs to help him in that fight. If Floyd Sr. is going to say that Golovkin fought Canelo before he reached his prime, then he has to say the same thing about his son Mayweather Jr. having fought Canelo before his prime as well.
I do not agree with Floyd Sr. at all about Canelo having a chance to beat Golovkin. I see Canelo as having no chance at all of winning the fight unless he can boil Golovkin down to 155 and weaken him enough to where he is not 100 percent.
If Floyd Sr. sits down and watches how Canelo barely beat Miguel Cotto last month, then I think he would agree that Canelo is going to be in for a world of hurt when he gets in the ring with Golovkin. Canelo will not have a tremendous weight advantage over Golovkin, and when you take that away from Canelo, it leaves him in a situation where he is going to need to try to win on skills rather than weight. I do not think that will be enough for Canelo to win.
If Golovkin destroys Canelo or beats him really badly, it will diminish what Mayweather Jr. accomplished in beating Canelo two years ago. I think that’s something that Floyd Sr. does not want to happen. Boxing fans will no longer see it as a big deal that Mayweather defeated Canelo if Golovkin goes in there and wipes the deck with Canelo. It would a case where Golovkin would get a huge surge of new popularity in gaining many new fans.
The victory would likely lead to Mayweather further being forgotten, as what he did in the past would be diminished. Mayweather used movement to defeat Canelo in a fight that was rather than boring to watch. If Golovkin goes right into the teeth of the likely heavier Canelo and scores a fast knockout, then it is going to turn Golovkin into a bigger star. Golovkin will have not only beaten Canelo, but also beaten him in a more impressive fashion than Mayweather did. That is why I am not surprised that Floyd Sr. is saying he does not think Golovkin is a good fighter, because I feel that he sees him as a threat to his son Floyd Jr’s legacy and popularity.
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