Video: Golovkin is MUCH bigger puncher than Canelo says Chavez Jr

By Boxing News - 05/09/2017 - Comments

Image: Video: Golovkin is MUCH bigger puncher than Canelo says Chavez Jr

By Jeff Aranow: Following his loss last Saturday night, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. says the punching power of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is not in the same league as Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, who he feels is a MUCH better power puncher than the redheaded Golden Boy Promotions star. Chavez Jr. says he couldn’t feel Canelo’s punches compared to the much harder shots he was getting hit with by Golovkin when the two of them sparred each other in the past.

A disappointed 30-year-old Chavez Jr. (50-3-1, 32 KOs) lost to Canelo (49-1-1, 34 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night in a fight televised by HBO PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Chavez Jr. says he lost too much weight in getting down to the 164.5 catchweight for the fight. Chavez Jr. says he started training for the fight at 215 pounds, and he had to get all the weight down to the catchweight. He feels that Canelo knew that his inactivity that had in him not fighting a lot in boxing.

Contrary to what Golovkin likes to call his fighting style, “Mexican style,” Chavez Jr. says he doesn’t have a Mexican style of fighting. Chavez Jr. says Golovkin fights more like a robotic and not a Mexican fighter the way he throws his punches one after another.

”He has aggressive style. [Abel] Sanchez teaches him the body shot,” said Chavez Jr. to esnewsreporting.com about Golovkin. ”I don’t think he has Mexican style, because the punches are like a robot. He’s a big puncher, you? He’s a lot bigger puncher than Canelo. I feel more Golovkin’s punches than Canelo in spar. More heavy hands than Canelo,” said Chavez Jr. in giving his opinion on the power difference between Golovkin and Canelo’s shots.

Chavez Jr. saying Golovkin is a bigger puncher than Canelo isn’t going to go well with his large fan base, many of which believe him to be just as strong if not stronger than GGG. Chavez Jr. coming out now and saying that Triple G is the bigger puncher than Canelo is going to be seen as sour grapes because of his loss. To be fair, Chavez Jr. has said a lot of good things about Canelo’s speed, talent and boxing skills in the many interviews since the fight last Saturday. In the instances where Chavez Jr. has said negative things about Canelo, it’s in comparing him to other fighters like Sergio Martinez and Golovkin.

Chavez Jr. doesn’t see Canelo as good as Sergio Martinez, and he doesn’t view his punching power to be anywhere close to that of GGG. However, Chavez Jr. still believes the Canelo-Golovkin fight is a “50-50” affair that can go either way. That suggests that Chavez Jr. is being honest about his opinions on Canelo’s talent. Chavez Jr. is not downgrading Canelo simply because he lost the fight to him by a one-sided decision last Saturday night. Chavez Jr. is being fair to Canelo. The thing is, the boxing doesn’t view Canelo as a bigger puncher than Golovkin, so it’s not exactly earth-shattering news coming from Chavez Jr. that he doesn’t rate him as being more powerful either than Triple G.

Chavez Jr. is correct about Canelo not being the same kind of puncher that Golovkin is. We saw that last Saturday night with all the power punches that Canelo landed on Chavez Jr. Those shots from Canelo didn’t look anywhere near the power level that Golovkin was hitting Daniel Jacobs with last March, and Golovkin wasn’t loading up on his punches like he normally does. You could tell that he has a lot more power than Canelo. There’s no comparison. Canelo can punch a little, but he didn’t bring his power up with him from the 154lb division. That’s not good news for Canelo, because he’s going to need to rely more on his hand speed and boxing ability if he hopes to beat Golovkin in their upcoming fight.

Golovkin doesn’t seem as fluid with his Mexican fighting styles compared to the Mexican fighters from today and the past. Golovkin appears to have a sketchy idea of how to fight like some of the Mexican boxing greats. However, he’s unable to throw punches like them with how seamless and athletic that some of them are. You don’t see a lot of double and triple hooks that guys like Julio Cesar Chavez and Salvador Sanchez used to throw.

“It’s not a secret, the inactivity,” said Chavez Jr. to esnewsreporting.com. “When you lose weight; it’s not easy to lose weight. I lost in 9 months from 215 pounds to 164. He put his fight at 164,” said Chavez Jr. about Canelo. “He knows my inactivity. This is business. But people that know boxing, they knew what’s going to happen,” said Chavez Jr.

”I don’t know if I can go to Mexico after I lost to Canelo,” said Chavez Jr.

As bad as he fought against Canelo, Chavez Jr. is probably going to take a lot of heat from his Mexican boxing fans when he gets back home to Mexico. Chavez Jr. is a well-known star in his native country, and he can’t just slip into Mexico and blend in without being recognized everywhere he goes. A lot of the boxing fans will have seen his fight against Canelo, and they might give him some feedback about it.

Chavez Jr. would have done a better job if he’d gone out on his shield against Canelo. Chavez Jr. never went all out in the fight, and that’s the sad part. Even when Canelo invited him in to trade with him, Chavez Jr. wouldn’t take him up on the offer. That was the perfect opportunity for Chavez Jr. to go out like a hero by fighting until the very end, and he chose not to fight like a warrior. I think some boxing fans will have a problem with Chavez Jr’s safety first style of fighting, because he seemed like he was too afraid to be countered by Canelo.

With everything that was on the line for the fight, Chavez Jr. should have taken more chances by daring to be great. The boxing fans at home in Mexico are likely going to give him grief when they run into him. Chavez Jr. made Canelo look better than he actually is by not throwing punches, and not staying in the pocket for the full 12 round fight. It’s a real shame because Chavez Jr. ruined the fight by not making it exciting.

Canelo will be fighting Golovkin on September 16 on HBO PPV. It’s going to be a radical change for Canelo to go from fighting the likes of Chavez Jr., Liam Smith, Amir Khan and James Kirkland to facing a real puncher with talent in Golovkin. Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy should have planned ahead to pick someone that could punch like Golovkin and give him a good and accurate test to find out if he can handle the power that he’ll be getting hit with when he gets inside the ring with Triple G. Using a weight drained Chavez Jr. as a tune-up opponent to get Canelo ready for Golovkin was probably not a good idea at this point in time. Canelo needed to face a hard hitter like David Lemieux or Tureano Johnson. Canelo needed a pressure fighter that wasn’t weight drained like Chavez Jr. clearly was last Saturday night.

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