Mayweather: Canelo isn’t ducking GGG; He’ll beat him

By Boxing News - 01/11/2017 - Comments

Image: Mayweather: Canelo isn’t ducking GGG; He’ll beat him

By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still insisting that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will beat IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin when he finally decides it’s time to face him. Mayweather says that Canelo isn’t ducking the 34-year-old Golovkin despite the evidence appearing to prove that.

Canelo has already vacated his WBC middleweight title to avoid fighting Golovkin in the past. There’s no way you can spin a move like that, because it’s pretty much academic that Canelo ducked Golovkin.

Mayweather is still the only fighter to officially beat Canelo. Erislandy Lara beat Canelo three years ago, but didn’t get credit for it with the judges giving the red-headed star a controversial 12 round split decision in 2014.

Mayweather said this to ESPN.com about Canelo beating Golovkin in the future whenever the fight takes place:

“Canelo’s not ducking Triple G. Canelo will beat GGG,” said Mayweather. ”Canelo is going to end up fighting Errol Spence down the line in a big, big fight. I think it’s going to come down to those two. That’s my honest opinion. Triple G is the same guy who was getting out-boxed by a welterweight if I’m not mistaken Canelo knocks Tripple G out. Triple G has his hands full with [Daniel] Jacobs. Jacobs can fight. The thing is this: Jacobs can dish it out, but he has to be able to take it. But it’s all about who gets who first.”

Golovkin will KO Daniel Jacobs on March 18th, but I doubt Mayweather will give him credit for the win. It’ll just come down to Mayweather saying that Golovkin got to Jacobs first. Jacobs is a good fighter when facing guys like Peter Quillin and Sergio Mora, but he falls apart when facing talented opposition like Dmitri Pirog. Jacobs will revert to form on March 18th and bow out quickly against Golovkin. That’s my prediction and I’m usually right.

I don’t think Canelo beats Golovkin if they fight within the two years. Golovkin is still fighting at too high of a level right now for Canelo to beat him. Golovkin is aging slowly. He looks younger than Canelo in my opinion. Golovkin must be eating something that is slowing his age down, because he’s not aging like normal fighters. Maybe Golovkin is drinking from the Fountain of Youth or something, because it’s not normal for 34-year-old fighters to look and fight as good as Golovkin is.

Some boxing fans think that Mayweather doesn’t want Golovkin to beat Canelo, as it will cheapen his own win over him from 2013. Assuming that Golovkin not only beats Canelo but does it in style by knocking him out in the process, it’s going to make Mayweather’s boring 12 round decision win over Canelo look less impressive.

Mayweather fought in a safety-first manner in jabbing and running his way to a very boring 12 round decision over Canelo. Mayweather took no chances in beating Canelo. If Golovkin walks Canelo down and chops him down with body and head shots to leave him on the canvas in a crumpled and bleeding mess, the boxing public is going to crown Golovkin as the new star of the sport.

The fans will have forgotten Mayweather, who by that time will be little more than a foggy memory for a lot of fans. Golovkin has brought in a new era of boxing, one that is characterized by exciting fights involving slugging and a lot of risk taking against the very best competitive willing to fight him. Mayweather’s era of safety first fighting, and careful match-making on expensive and some would say overpriced PPV fights would be like a bad memory.

Once Golovkin takes Canelo’s scalp and adds it to his collection, there can be coming back for Mayweather. Golovkin’s drama show style of fighting will be what the boxing public expects and wants from fighters. If Mayweather were to come back and go back to fighting in his normal safety first style, it would be the equivalent of old foggy music being played on the radio for young audiences, who wouldn’t enjoy it and would quickly turn the station.

I like the idea of Canelo fighting Spence, but I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon. The good news is that Spence is the same age as Canelo is at 26, so this isn’t a fight that Golden Boy and Canelo can stall out until Spence gets old before taking the fight. I have a feeling that Spence is age better than Canelo, and 10 years from now, Spence will still be a force in boxing.

I don’t see Canelo being a factor in the sport in 10 years. Canelo arguably isn’t even the third best fighter at 154. I think Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade and Lara are all better than Canelo at junior middleweight. Jermell Charlo and Julian Williams would give Canelo a serious run for his money.

I don’t think Canelo will take a fight against Golovkin until 2019. Golovkin will look too good in destroying Daniel Jacobs on March 18 in their fight on HBO PPV from Madison Square Garden in New York. Golden Boy will hold off on the Canelo-Golovkin fight until they see signs of Golovkin looking shot and feeble in my opinion.

Golovkin is not fast fighter. He’s a powerful fighter. When you have punching power, you can keep that power well into your 40s. That power doesn’t go away. I don’t think it matters how long Golden Boy prolongs the Canelo-Golovkin fight. I think Golovkin will still have too much power and talent for Canelo to ever beat him. It would be best for Golden Boy to get the fight over in 2017, because it makes Canelo look bad the way that they’re not willing to math him against the Kazakhstan star.

At least if Canelo takes the fight with Golovkin and loses, he can say he tried. Golden Boy could then try and rebuild his career by bringing him back down to 154 if he can still make that weight. The problem with keeping Canelo at 154 is that he would soon be forced to fight the likes of Jermall Charlo and the other top fighters in that division. Golden Boy can’t steer Canelo around all these superb fighters, because there are too many of them for them to navigate around.