By Dan Ambrose: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is under the impression that if he looks too good in beating Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) this Saturday night, it could cause Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions not to take the fight against him. Golovkin laughs that maybe he should use the strategy of not looking good so that it will get him the fight against Canelo.
It’s sad that Golovkin might lose out on a fight against the popular Mexican fighter Canelo if he beats his opponents too impressively, because a fighter should be able to earn big fights after looking good. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way in boxing.
The fighters that look invincible are the ones that get avoided unless they’re so popular that their opponents can get career high paydays fighting them. That was the case with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and it used to be the case with Manny Pacquiao before his pay-per-view numbers started dropping off after 2012.
“If I look good, he’s not ready,” Golovkin said of Canelo to the latimes.com. “If I look terrible, he’s ready. This is his strategy, Golden Boy strategy.”
If Golovkin wipes out Brook quickly in their fight on September 10, then it might cause Canelo and Golden Boy to choose push the fight against GGG father into the future at a perceived point where he’s no longer looking good. The way things are now, Canelo is supposed to fight Golovkin in September 2017. There’s nothing in writing that says that Canelo must fight Golovkin at this time, so he can definitely change his mind and fighting someone slese next year if they decide it’s not a good time to fight GGG.
When asked if he might choose to look bad on purpose to try and get the Canelo fight, Golovkin said, “Maybe, some time, maybe. Why not? Good strategy [to get the Canelo fight].”
The way Golovkin said it, I think he’s been kicking around the idea of him not looking good on purpose in hopes of getting Canelo and Golden Boy to finally pull the trigger on a fight. However, Golovkin doesn’t have that kind of devious makeup about him, because he wants to give the boxing fans their money’s worth each time he fights.
He’s not going to half step it just to try and lure a timid opponent into fighting him. If Canelo doesn’t want to fight Golovkin because of him looking invincible, then GGG will simply find guys that do want to fight him. He might not make the huge money that he’ll get from a single fight against Canelo, but he’ll still get nice paydays each time he fights.
“Hopefully if the fight is good, I’ll come back in November or December,” said Golovkin about his fight against Brook. “Maybe after this fight, I’ll talk to Billy Joe Saunders again. Maybe a unification fight, because this is my dream. My goal is all of the belts in the middleweight division, and then WBC middleweight challenger from Argentina. I’m ready,” said Golovkin.
I don’t think it’s possible for Golovkin to fight WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in November, December or anytime soon. I think that fight will happen only AFTER Saunders loses his title to Canelo or someone else. Even then, I think Saunders will only agree to fight Golovkin after his career has hit the rocks with him in a skid-row type of situation where he’s no longer a viable opponent for the other middleweights. I can’t see Saunders fighting Golovkin anytime soon until he’s picked up two or three loses on his resume.
Canelo has a fight against WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith this month on September 17 on HBO pay-per-view at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. If Canelo wins that fight, then he’ll fight either Saunders or the winner of the Willie Monroe Jr. vs. Gabriel Rosado fight in December.
Canelo will be fighting in May of 2017 on Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican holiday. The opponent for that date is up on the air right now. It’s likely that Canelo will fight Saunders, Monroe Jr. or Rosado for that date. One of the three fighters in that list will likely be facing Canelo.
Kell Brook is a pretty good fighter. He might have a chance of beating Golovkin if he can employ the perfect strategy to get through the fight without taking too many big shots.