By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Abel Sanchez is quite confident that his fighter IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is going to make easy work in knocking out Golden Boy Promotions star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in September next year. Sanchez feels there’s no question in his mind that Golovkin is going to obliterate the 26-year-old Canelo when he gets him inside the ring next year.
Before the fight can happen though, Golovkin will be fighting in March possibly against Daniel Jacobs. That match has been ordered by the World Boxing Association. That doesn’t mean it will take place. Sanchez says if the fight fails to happen, then Golovkin will fight somebody else.
The main thing is Golovkin needs to get back inside the ring, says Sanchez. He doesn’t want him to sit out of action for too long of a time. Golovkin and Jacobs were supposed to be fighting each other next month on December 10 on HBO Championship Boxing. However, the negotiations dragged on too long, so they had to kick fight to early 2017. The negotiations are still ongoing.
Team Golovkin are not going to put Golovkin’s career in a permanent suspended state of animation if the Jacobs fight can’t get made. They’re going to have to move on if the fight is undoable. It’ll obviously be disappointing, but it’s not worth it for Golovkin to devote more than half a year to just one fight, especially when it’s not a pay-per-view fight. The hardcore boxing fans will obviously like to see Golovkin fight Jacobs, but this isn’t a fight that will interest a lot of the casual fans, because they don’t know who Jacobs is. He’s not a big star in other words.
Sanchez said this to Ringcombackmedia about Golovkin:
“They might fight sometime in March. Hopefully, it’s Jacobs,” said trainer Abel Sanchez. “If not, he’ll be fighting somebody. Golovkin has got get back inside the ring. Billy Joe has been talking a lot like he wants to fight, but until he sits down with Tom and signs the contract, it’s easy to talk. He’s got to sign the contract for that to happen. They’re still negotiating on a weekly basis with Oscar and Tom,” said Sanchez about Canelo. “There’s always something that comes up. They’re still looking at September. Hopefully, Canelo’s hand is healed and he fights in May, and has that fight before the Golovkin fight. They’re still looking at September 2017.”
It’s unclear whether it matters a lot to Jacobs and his management if they don’t get the fight against Golovkin. Jacobs isn’t fight a lot, and his recent opposition has left a lot to be desired. Since winning the WBA ‘regular’ middleweight title in 2015, Jacobs has beaten Caleb Truax, Peter Quillin and Sergio Mora twice. The Truax and Mora fights were not great ones. Jacobs vs. Quillin was a good one, but the other ones were disappointing. It’s not good news for Golovkin to spend too much more time on the Jacobs fight if it looks like there’s no movement in the negotiations. If Golovkin has to give up the WBA title in order to free himself from the stalled negotiations, then he needs to consider doing that.
When asked if Golovkin is going to beat Canelo, Sanchez said, “He’s going to knock him out, of course.”
Sanchez said this about the Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Nicholas Walters fight to Dontae’s Boxing Nation:
“Very good fight,” said Sanchez about the Lomachenko-Walters fight. “I think Lomachenko’s feet are going to be the difference. He’s got exceptional feet. He positions himself so damn well. Every position he throws, he throws from a great position. He’s always on balance. He’s got great technique. Of course, 400 amateur fights didn’t hurt him. I see Lomachenko winning. I don’t think he stops Walters, but I see him winning.”
This is going to be a great fight tonight between the 28-year-old Lomachenko and Nicholas Walters. Lomachenko is seen as the favorite in this fight, but there’s still a chance for an upset. If Walters can land something on Lomachenko’s chin, he might get lucky and score a knockout. Walters has a puncher’s chance of winning the fight. There’s a lot riding on the fight. Lomachenko could wind up in his first headliner pay-per-view fight against Manny Pacquiao if he wins tonight against Walters.
Lomachenko needs to make sure he doesn’t take his eyes off the ball, because if he gets distracted in thinking about the Pacquiao fight, Walters could wind up scoring an upset victory. That would be a considerable setback for Lomachenko and for Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who wants to put Lomachenko in with Pacquiao.
“Lomachenko is the better fighter,” said Sanchez. “He’s the better all-around fighter. He’s going to be a star.”
Sanchez also still believes that former IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev deserved the win in his fight last Saturday night against Andre Ward. Sanchez said, “I thought Kovalev got robbed. I thought Kovalev won that fight. I thought he did enough in the first six and the knockdown. He had one round out of the last six and he won. Ward was more of a wrestling match, but that’s the way Ward fights. Ward did exactly what he needed to do.”
Kovalev lost the fight to Ward by a close 12 round unanimous decision. Kovalev might have gotten the win if he’d done more inside fighting. That was the main difference in the second half of the fight. Ward was able to tie Kovalev up and land some body shots. Kovalev seemed more interent in just trying to keep Ward from getting his own punches off on the inside. He should have been throwing punches when he had Ward on the inside.
Sanchez trains unbeaten cruiserweight contender Murat Gassiev (23-0, 17 KOs), who will be challenging IBF/WBA Super World cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (29-2, 22 KOs) on December 3 at the Khodnyka Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia. Sanchez said, “Murat Gassiev is going to knockout Denis Lebedev on the 3rd for the IBF and WBA title.”
The 23-year-old Gassiev has the size and the youth advantage over the 37-year-old Lebedev. What Gassiev doesn’t have is the experience that Lebedev has going for him. That could make it hard for him to win the fight.