By Jeff Aranow: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) has a very dangerous fight in front of him in his May 6 fight against the bigger super middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, according to middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler. He thinks it’s a risky fight for Canelo, because he’s moving up from the 154 pound division up to the super middleweight division to fight a big puncher in Chavez Jr.
Loeffler says that Chavez Jr. is known for adding a great deal of weight after he rehydrates for his fights, and it’s going to be very difficult for Canelo to be facing someone that big inside the ring.
Canelo has mostly been the bigger fighter in his matches. Perhaps the biggest opponents that Canelo has fought weigh-wise were Liam Smith, Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara. All of those fighters rehydrated to the low 170s. Chavez Jr. is very likely going to be in the 180s when he faces Canelo on May 6. Canelo might be in the 180s as well, but he’s not going to be used to fighting someone as big as Chavez Jr.
Canelo also not going to be accustomed to fighting a big body puncher like Chavez Jr. Canelo fought a lot of Mexican fighters earlier in his career, but they were mediocre opposition with little talent. Chavez Jr. is a different class of fighter. Canelo will need to deal with size and body punching when he faces Chavez Jr., and he might not be able to handle it.
Gennady might be tired talking about Canelo because he’s 100 percent focused on Danny Jacobs,” said Loeffler to Fino Boxing. “That’s the fight that’s signed. That’s the fight that’s scheduled for March 18. I never get tired talking about Canelo because that’s a great match-up. If there’s a way we can work out a deal with Golovkin Boy. I’ve been in regular contact with Eric Gomez, and they have the fight scheduled with [Julio Cesar] Chavez. Both guys are in dangerous fights and both guys win, I think that’s a fight everyone will look forward to. My job is to look ahead and trying to make the matches for Gennady, because it’s so difficult to get guys inside the ring to fight him. At the same time, Gennady and Canelo can’t look past their fights, because if there’s a misstep there, it doesn’t matter what their plans. That’s why I’m staying focused on this fight. It’s my job to try and put together the best fights for him in the future. I think it’s a dangerous fight for him. Canelo went from fighting at junior middleweight to super middleweight without stopping in between at middleweight. He’s going to be fighting the bigger guy Chavez Jr. Chavez is known for putting on a lot of weight. Canelo also puts on a lot of weight, but we saw what Chavez did to Sergio Martinez. He lost the fight but he won the 12th round. He knocked down Sergio a couple of times in the last round, and he was never the same with the knee injury. Chavez is a big puncher. I think that’s a good match-up. It’s a good marketable fight between two great Mexican warriors. If Gennady and Canelo are successful, it’s just going to be that much more marketable. A lot of people have swerved out of the way of Gennady. Carl Froch has a famous saying, ‘Just swerve and avoid him like the plague.’ That’s happened to a lot of guys, a lot of champions in the middleweight division have avoided Gennady. That’s why we were so excited about the fight with Danny Jacobs. There can be no criticism about this fight. It’s the two best middleweights fighting each other. Canelo has the biggest super middleweight. It’s not an easy fight. Fighting Chavez in the super middleweight division is a big step for him,” said Loeffler.
Canelo fought a body puncher in his last fight against Liam Smith last September, and he did not look comfortable. Smith hit Canelo with a number of hard body shots that had him resting against the ropes to recover from the shots. Smith is a decent body puncher, but he’s not at the same level Chavez Jr. is.
It’s important for Canelo to beat Chavez Jr. for him to meet up with Golovkin later on this year in September. That’s a huge fight for the boxing world, but it’s not going to happen if Chavez Jr. beats Canelo on May 6. If Canelo wins another controversial decision like he did in his fights against Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout, then that’s going to take a lot of the air out of the Golovkin fight as well. The boxing world will see that Canelo won yet another questionable decision, and they won’t be excited at seeing him and Golovkin fight.
The fans that will be excited in still seeing the fight will be ones that will figure that Golovkin won’t let the judges have any say so in his fight against Canelo, because he’s going to make sure he knocks him out so he doesn’t wind up losing a controversial decision too.
Speaking about the Canelo-Golovkin fight, Loeffler said, “All the representatives we’ve gotten with Golden Boy is if he’s successful, we’re going to try and make the fight in September,” said Loeffler.
Loeffler needs to not count his chickens before they’ve hatched when it comes to the Canelo fight, because it might not take place in September. Already many boxing fans are predicting that Canelo will be fighting Billy Joe Saunders in September and Miguel Cotto in December. They see the Golovkin fight being kicked down the road to May or September 2018 depending on how well he’s fighting.
If Golovkin is still fighting at a high level in 2018, then the fight against Canelo could be moved to 2019. This writer is hoping that we don’t see Golden Boy and Canelo pushing the Golovkin fight far into the future as they look to wait until he ages more.
“It’s a fight between the two best middleweights in the world that the fans are reacting to,” said Loeffler about the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight. “Gennady I undefeated with 23 knockouts in a row. Danny Jacobs has 12 round knockouts in a row. He’s one of the bigger punchers in the sport of boxing. Whenever you can beat Peter Quillin like Danny did at the time in the 1st round, that’s a huge statement for Danny Jacobs and his punching power. It’s two huge punchers meeting each other inside the ring. It’s not going to be any running. It’s not going to be a controversial decision. I think we’re not going to see the 12th round in this fight. That’s really what fans have reacted to. The Lemieux fight was sold out at Madison Square Garden. That was in October 2015. The ticket sales [for Golovkin vs. Jacobs] are way above that. I think a large part because Gennady is much more known and more popular than he was when he was trying to unify with Lemieux and his punching power. I give a lot of credit to Danny Jacobs. He’s got a big fan base. Gennady and Jacobs have given a lot to promote the fight. We had the press tours. The fans are reacting to two great fighters facing each other. They don’t have to throw tables and do crazy things at the press conferences. It’s just a matter of the fans wanting to see this tremendous match-up,” said Loeffler.
