By Dan Ambrose: This week, Gennady “GGG:” Golovkin gave a big tip off that he took it easy on his last opponent Daniel Jacobs in order to get a fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Golovkin didn’t come right out and admit that he didn’t go all out against former WBA World middleweight champion Jacobs in their fight on March 18, but he did the next closest thing to admitting it by saying that if he hadn’t shined against him, then he wouldn’t have gotten the September 16th fight against the highly popular Canelo.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya had been dragging out the Canelo-Golovkin fight before Golovkin fought Jacobs. But after Golovkin barely beat the New Yorker, then De La Hoya seemed to change his tune in deciding to make the Canelo vs. GGG fight.
“Right now I have a deal with Canelo. This is a very good fight for me,” said Golovkin to IFL TV. “If I look beautiful, it it’s easy fight against Daniel Jacobs, you know, then I don’t have a fight with Canelo. Right now I have a fight with Canelo. Right now this is new style and difficult style. This is good fight for business. This is best fight,” said Golovkin.
There it is. Golovkin seems to understand in his mind that if he did a great job against Jacobs, then he wouldn’t have gotten the fight against the 26-year-old Canelo. Golovkin edged Jacobs by the scores 114-113, 115-112 and 115-112. Boxing News 24 scored it 118-111 in favor of Triple G. Golovkin is probably right. If he looked good against Jacobs, he’d likely be still waiting for his big chance to fight Canelo. I think the fight would eventually happen, but not until Golovkin was older and looking over-the-hill. Just how many years in the future that would be would likely be up to Golovkin’s aging. If he aged well, then it could be years and years. It’s a good thing that Golovkin didn’t look good against Jacobs.
Jacobs appeared to win 3 rounds in the fight. He was given some arguably gift rounds in the second half of the fight by the 3 judges that he didn’t deserve like the 10th and 12th. Those should have been Golovkin rounds. Golovkin appeared to win all 6 of the first half of the fight.
Golovkin calls Billy Joe Saunders a ‘Clown’
Golovkin isn’t too impressed with WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, who confronted him and Canelo at their recent press tour in London, England. Golovkin said Saunders is a “Clown” and “not serious. Read below Golovkin’s thoughts on Saunders.
“Everybody wants to watch this fight,” said Golovkin about his September 16 bout with Canelo Alvarez. “My focus right now is Canelo. Of course, I want all the belts in the middleweight division. [Billy Joe] Saunders, everyone knows him. He’s not serious. He’s a clown,” said Golovkin.
Golovkin wants to fight Saunders AFTER he takes care of business with Canelo on September 16. Whether Saunders has the World Boxing Organization title or not is the real question. Without the WBO strap, Saunders can forget about ever fighting Golovkin. That’s the only thing Saunders has going for him. Golovkin and Canelo aren’t going to waste time fighting Saunders if he loses his WBO belt in his next fight on September 16. David Lemieux, the No.2 ranked contender. If Saunders takes that fight next, then he can probably say goodbye to his WBO strap. Lemieux is too powerful and consistent for a guy like Saunders to survive against him.
Golovkin says Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev fight was stopped too soon
“Maybe a little,” said Golovkin when asked if the Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev fight was stopped too soon by the referee Tony Weeks. “Not drama, 1, 2, 3. I don’t know. Referee, he’s the boss. I like a couple of seconds to give him a second chance, and if he gets knocked down, then maybe next round he’s finished. Andre, he looks very, very good, very strong. Kovalev is a very tough fighter. He’s a champion. I think this fight was [stopped] early. For this class for this fight maybe 2 knockdowns. 3 knockdowns is maybe better. For me, it wasn’t matter. If people say he’s No.1, then he’s No.1,” said Golovkin when asked for his thoughts about Andre Ward being rated as Ring Magazine’s number 1 pound-for-pound fighter.
There’s definitely an argument that can be made that referee Tony Weeks did a bad job officiating in the 8th round of the recent Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev 2 rematch. Tony Weeks wasn’t calling the low blow fouls that Ward appeared to be landing. The coup de grace came when Tony Weeks put a stop to the fight after Ward landed what looked like a low blow in the 8th. Golovkin thinks referee Tony Weeks should have let the fight go on a little while longer. It looked like Weeks was no longer calling low blows, and he seemed to react in the wrong way to what looked like a low blow from Ward. Weeks’ stoppage hurt what could have been a great ending by Ward with him being on the verge of knocking Kovalev out. Golovkin saw all that, and that’s why he wished the fight had been allowed to continue.
Golovkin: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor is bad for boxing
“This is a very expensive show, Floyd and Conor,” said Golovkin in talking about the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor fight on August 26. “It’s great for Conor. It’s not great for boxing. It’s nothing in boxing. It’s no respect for boxing. No, this is show. Show is good, but not for boxing. It’s a good show. He not win,” said Golovkin in saying that McGregor won’t beat Mayweather. “They both win. Conor wins. Floyd wins; a lot of money, a lot of attention, a lot of support,” said Golovkin.
Golovkin could be right about the August 26 fight between Mayweather and McGregor being bad for boxing. In the immediate sense, it could be bad for the Canelo and Golovkin fight with it quite possibly hurting the pay-per-view numbers. If the boxing fans are upset enough about having been ripped off by the Mayweather-McGregor fight, which could be a real stinker, then those fight fans might be less thrilled at the idea of paying for another fight in the PPV area. Since the next big PPV fight is Canelo-Golovkin, they could be hurt by the Mayweather-McGregor fight. There’s also a chance that the boxing public will be tapped out with their financial resources after purchasing the expensive $100 Mayweather vs. McGregor fight. If those fans don’t have the money to pay to see the Canelo and Gennady fight, then guess what? They won’t purchase it. We’ll never know for sure what impact the Mayweather-McGregor fight will have on the Canelo-GGG fight, because there’s no way of quantifying it. All we can do is guess. But if Canelo vs. Golovkin only brings in 1 million buys on PPV or less, then you have to assume that the Mayweather vs. MGregor fight hurt their promotion. Canelo vs. Triple is expected to bring in a lot more than 1 million buys. If it falls short of that, then some boxing fans will cast blame on the Mayweather fight that takes place just ahead of it.
No,” said Golovkin in response to a question of whether the Mayweather-McGregor fight will hurt his fight against Canelo. “Everybody understands this is true fight [Golovkin vs. Canelo]. This is boxing fight. This is not show. It’s not a TV show or funny show,” said GGG.
Casual boxing and MMA fans know Mayweather and McGregor better than they do Canelo and Golovkin. I don’t think GGG understands that. Mayweather is the most recognizable fighter in the sport for U.S fans. And McGregor is by far the most recognizable fighter in the UFC. MMA is really getting popular now. Mayweather-McGregor is going to pull in a lot of fans to purchase their fight on Showtime PPV, and possibly break the all-time PPV record of 4.6 million buys. Many of those fans won’t bother evaluating the Canelo-Golovkin fight, because a good portion of them won’t be familiar with Canelo and GGG. True MMA fans don’t know who Triple G is. They know who Mayweather is, but not Golovkin or Canelo.
Golovkin looking forward to starting training camp for Canelo fight
“I got to camp. I want. I want,” said Golovkin in saying he’s eager to start training camp for Canelo fight. “I need training, because everybody understands this is biggest fight, biggest opponent. I think this is the biggest fight in boxing right now. Everybody knows, and everybody believes boxing drama show is coming. I know him and Canelo knows me. He’s a huge fighter. I’m a champion. It’s an amazing fight for us, for boxing, for fans, for business and for everything,” said Golovkin.
Golovkin needs to turn his fight with Canelo into a “drama show’ on September 16 to make sure he gets the win. If it goes to a decision, then that favors Canelo because he’s got the faster hands, and he throws more punches. It’ll be difficult for GGG to win a decision against a fighter like Canelo.