By Scott Gilfoid: The talented IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) and his team at K2 Promotions have made it plainly clear that they want a unification match against WBO middleweight belt holder Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) this year IF they can’t get a big money fight against former two division champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) next in September.
Golovkin wants the last middleweight title belt not in possession. For him to get the title, he’ll need to face Saunders, who seems to be quite willing to face him. However, Canelo’s promoter Eric Gomez of Golden Boy Promotions threw a potential monkey wrench into Triple G’s plans on Monday by saying that Saunders is one of the candidates for Canelo’s next fight.
Gomez isn’t saying that Saunders is the leading candidate, as there are six others besides him. Saunders is clearly someone that Canelo and Golden Boy see as good option for them, because it would give the Mexican star a chance to win an easy world title against the light hitting Saunders.
It would also put Canelo out of reach of GGG, because there’s no way he could force a fight against him like he was in the process of doing when Canelo held the WBC middleweight title. Canelo gave up the WBC title recently after the World Boxing Council gave the negotiations between him and Golovkin a deadline of May 24. If Canelo can whip Saunders for his WBO strap, then there would be nothing Golovkin could do about it. He won’t be able to force Canelo to fight him, and the WBO is probably not going to turn around and rank Golovkin in their top 15 rankings the way the WBC title.
“Golovkin, (WBO middleweight titlist) BJ Saunders, Liam Smith, Shawn Porter, Cotto, Danny Jacobs and (Floyd) Mayweather (Jr.) all are being considered,” said Gomez to ringtv.com.
So there it is. Saunders is in the running for a fight against Canelo, and so is Liam Smith. I can’t believe for a second that Canelo would drop down to 154 to fight Liam Smith because the fallout from boxing world would likely be too much for him to withstand. It’s one thing for Canelo to be holed up in his 155lb catch-weight division, but another thing for him to drop back down to 154 to fight Smith, a guy that isn’t seen by many fans as even the third best champion in the junior middleweight division.
What makes Saunders such a good opponent for Canelo is his WBO and the fact that he can’t punch and he has stamina problems. We saw how Saunders gassed out against Andy Lee and Chris Eubank Jr. recently. What this means for Canelo is that he would only need to worry about Saunders’ clever boxing for around six rounds. After the 6th, Canelo would be able to likely do whatever he pleases to pummel Saunders and knock him out in the same fashion he did welterweight Amir Khan.
Canelo vs. Saunders obviously wouldn’t play out too well in the United States in terms of PPV buys on HBO. If Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions tries to stick a fight against Saunders on PPV, I see it as a contest that might not even bring in 200,000 buys. I don’t think they’re foolish enough to ask the public to purchase a fight like that on PPV. However, the UK public will likely lap the Canelo-Saunders fight up, and gladly pay to see it on PPV. There would be UK money that Canelo could potentially dip his beak into in a match of this kind. As such, it might work out for Canelo even if the U.S fans want no part of paying to see him trounce a guy like Saunders.
Ideally, Canelo needs to do the right thing and face Triple G next so that he can please his fans. I think Canelo is seeing the sport in business terms, so he’s likely going to be immune to pressure from his fans and the boxing world. I think Canelo will go in the path of least resistance by facing either Saunders or Liam Smith for his next fight. The other guys that that Eric Gomez listed – Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Shawn Porter and Daniel Jacobs – are fighters that I cannot see Canelo fighting anytime soon.
Frankly, I think Saunders would have zero chance against Canelo. At best, Saunders might be able to survive into the 8th round if he gets in really good shape so that he can move around all night to avoid getting hit. However, Saunders tires out too quickly, and I see Canelo catching up to him eventually and knocking him into oblivion with one of his left hooks or right hands.
If Canelo gets the WBO title, I think Golovkin should forget all about trying to get that title because I don’t see the Mexican star giving him the fight. GGG might as well move up to super middleweight at that point and put Canelo on permanent ignore. Golovkin cannot spend the remaining years of his career chasing Canelo around because it’s a waste.