By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Abel Sanchez is totally unconcerned with the added muscle weight that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has put on for his fight against middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin this Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Sanchez says the extra weight won’t make Canelo any more powerful with his punches, and he still has to make the 160 pound weight limit on September. Canelo also must make the IBF’s mandated 170 lb. weight limit the morning of the fight on September 16. Sanchez feels that those 2 things will keep Canelo from being able to use his new size to gain an advantage against Triple G.
Sanchez didn’t discuss the potential for Canelo to ignore the IBF’s weight check the day of the fight so he can use the time to rehydrate to gain an advantage over Gennady. Daniel Jacobs did just that in his fight with Golovkin on March 18. Jacobs chose not to let the IBF weigh him the day of the fight. Jacobs used the extra time to bulk up by consuming water so he could be fully rehydrated well before the fight in the evening on March 18.
Since Canelo seemingly has taken a page out of the Jacobs’ playbook by bulking up for the fight to gain an edge against Gennady, it’s quite possible that Canelo will chose to not participate in the IBF’s same day secondary weigh-in. By doing this, Canelo would be losing out on the chance of him winning the IBF title if he beats Golovkin. However, Canelo might not care. He’s already said he’s not interested in fighting for the World Boxing Council’s title. If Canelo beats GGG, he would have to face the WBC mandatory challenger Jermall Charlo. That’s a dangerous fight for Canelo. By the same token, if Canelo fights for the IBF belt, he would be required to face the IBF mandatory Sergiy Derevyanchenko. That’s another bad match-up for Canelo. He might not want that responsibility either.
“No matter how big he looks, he still has to make 160 pounds on September 15th, and he still has to make 170 on the 16th morning,” said Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez to secondsout.com about Canelo. “How big he gets is really irrelevant. It’s not going to make him any stronger. It’s not going to make him fight any harder. It’s still the same Canelo. He’s still going to have to get in the ring with Golovkin, and we know what he can do at 160 pounds,” said Sanchez.
Carrying the extra weight could be difficult for Canelo during the fight. Canelo looks like he gained a lot of muscle weight. The boxing fans will likely never find out for sure how much Canelo has gained, because he doesn’t weigh-in before he steps inside the ring on the day of the fight. But in looking at how big Canelo is compared to his last fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., he appears to be at least 15 lbs. heavier. Canelo weighed in at 164 lbs. for the Chavez Jr. fight on May 6. His weight on the night of the fight is unknown, but it’s thought that he was close to 180 lbs.
Canelo looks a lot bigger now than he was for that fight. Canelo’s weight right now could be in the neighborhood of 190 lbs. Believe it or not; fighters can lose 30 lbs. of water weight in the week of the fight and put it back on in the 24 hours before the fight by rehydrating. Some fighters are sluggish after losing that much water weight and then putting it back on so quickly, but thus far, Canelo has done a great job of being able to make weight without it hurting him. Canelo might even be able to rehydrate to 190 without it hurting him. Still, it’s going to be difficult for him to fight hard for 12 rounds with that kind of weight. That’s the part where Canelo could have issues on September 16. He’s not fought with that kind of weight before.
”We’ll see that in the first 3 rounds. We’ll see what kind of respect he has for Canelo and the punching power,” said Sanchez. ”If he has no respect for him, then we’re going to see a great fight. Gennady is ready to go 12 rounds as hard as he can. If Canelo can stand it, it’s going to be a great fight. He’s making 165 pounds 7 days before the fight. We’re going to be surprised at the outcome of how dominate Golovkin will be,” said Sanchez.
If Golovkin is going to dominate and have no respect for Canelo, then he’s going to need to put pressure on him the same way he did against Kell Brook and the other guys that he’s knocked out during his career. If Golovkin fights Canelo like he did Danny Jacobs, he could lose the fight because it’ll mean the fight will go the full 12 rounds. Trying to win a decision against a popular fighter like Canelo could prove to be all but impossible for GGG. He needs to see himself in the same role as Srisaket Sor Rungvisai if he wants to win this fight against. Putting pressure on Canelo, hitting him as hard as possible, and making him expend energy is the best way to win this fight. Boxing Canelo won’t get the job done. If the fight is decided on who the more popular fighter is, then Canelo wins. You hate to think that’s how judges score fights, but there’s been quite a few fights where the A-side guy gets decisions over the B-side fighters that appeared to beat them.
“Presence,” said Sanchez when what is the key to beating Canelo. ”He needs to be in front of Canelo and make Canelo work. I don’t think he gasses out. I think they’ve figured that one out. I think Golovkin’s presence will be a big key in winning this fight,” said Sanchez.
It sounds like pressure is the game plan that Sanchez has for Golovkin to beat Canelo. You can understand why Sanchez doesn’t want to give the game plan away this far ahead of time, but it’s not as if Canelo hasn’t prepared for that type of fight. Golovkin has 2 different fight strategies he uses. He’s either pressuring his opponents in losing for a knockout or he’s using his jab and boxing.
Canelo has 2 different ways he fights as well. He’s either taking the fight to his opponents in trying to win with short bursts of combinations, or he goes back against the ropes and tries to win his fights by using head movement, pot shots and uppercuts. That approach only works when Canelo fights B-level fighters though. He lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. when fighting with his back against the ropes, and he should have lost to Austin Trout when he fought that way.
”We always have to be concerned, but if we do our job, it shouldn’t be that close,” said Sanchez about the possibility of Golovkin losing a controversial decision. ”If we know that can happen going into the fight and if that happens, it’s our fault, because we didn’t do enough in the fight to make it so wide apart that it wouldn’t happen. But I have faith in the Nevada Commission and the judges they’ve approved and the referee to keep it on an even playing field,” said Sanchez.