By Dan Ambrose: In the view of trainer Teddy Atlas, we won’t be seeing the fight between WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin this year. Atlas feels that Canelo has too many other options to make good money, and he doesn’t need to take a dangerous opponent like Golovkin.
Atlas feels that Golovkin is too big and too strong for Canelo. Atlas sees Canelo’s huge Latino fan base as making it possible for him to do well financially fighting anyone in the sport. Canelo doesn’t have to fight good opponents for him to make money. We’ve seen that recently with Canelo making good money fighting the likes of James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo.
Neither of those fighters are factors in the 154lb division. They’re just a couple of names from the past that are no longer relevant at this point in the sport. Canelo still fought them and made good money.
Those fights showed that Canelo doesn’t even need to fight the true top elite fighters for him to make good money. He can do well just fighting yesterday’s guys.
“I don’t think it’s [Canelo vs. Golovkin] going to happen,” Atlas said to Fighthype. “I don’t think it’s going to happen because Canelo has too many options. He can make money. He has a great, great, great, great Latino fan base, and he has too many places where he can make money fighting. I’m not going to say anybody, but I am going to say almost anybody. Golovkin doesn’t have quite that landscape. I’m sure he’s chomping at the bit for that fight, because it could bring him to another place of recognition because of Canelo having that fan base that he has, and the recognition that goes with that fan base. I think if it did happen, Golovkin would be too big and too strong for him. I really think so. I know a lot of Latino fans will be made at me for saying that, and I’m sorry,” Atlas said.
Atlas seems to know what he’s talking about. I agree with him about Canelo-Golovkin not likely to happen. Golovkin is just too good for Canelo, and way too advanced. If Canelo didn’t have the chance to make good money fighting other guys, then I could see him agreeing to a fight against Golovkin. But I don’t see it happening.
Gabriel Rosado is one of the names that are being mentioned as a possibility for Canelo’s next fight. You can make an argument that Rosado is a name from the past just like Kirkland and Angulo. Rosado has won only one fight since 2012, and that was against a smaller, older fighter in 39-year-old Joshua Clottey. It wouldn’t be surprising if Rosado is the guy that Canelo winds up facing on May 7 on HBO pay-per-view.
What Atlas didn’t say is whether he believes a fight between Canelo and Golovkin will ever take place. I think it’s safe to say it will happen eventually, but likely not until Golovkin older and starting to show signs of being a shot fighter. Golovkin is 33 right now, and he’s likely going to start slowing down sooner or later. The 25-year-old Canelo can afford to wait for Golovkin to get old before he finally agrees to fight him, because he can make good money fighting weaker, smaller opposition with little risk.
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