Saunders says Canelo will be given win over Golovkin if it’s close

By Boxing News - 02/02/2018 - Comments

Image: Saunders says Canelo will be given win over Golovkin if it’s close

By Jeff Aranow: Billy Joe Saunders hasn’t changed his view on Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin not having much of a chance of winning a decision against Saul Canelo Alvarez in their May 5th rematch if the fight is close affair, which it wasn’t last time and GGG still didn’t get the win.

Saunders points out that the card will be a Golden Boy Promotions card, and he thinks it’s going to difficult for Triple G to win a decision under those circumstances.

The venue for the last Canelo vs. Golovkin fight was at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The crowd was roaring loudly for Canelo all night long. If the judges were influenced by the crowd, you can understand why. Canelo had the crowding eating out of his hand. The judges scored the fight a 12 round draw. You know the old saying. The visiting fighter starts off 5 rounds down already on the scorecards.

The fight ending in a draw would suggest that Golovkin was fighting an uphill battle from the moment the fight started with him being the visiting fighter facing the home fighter Canelo. Las Vegas is Canelo’s favorite city to fight in. We still don’t know where the venue for the rematch will take place. If it’s Las Vegas again, then Golovkin could be really asking for trouble if Saunders’ theory about the judging in that city is correct.

“You know, I personally think on a De La Hoya card, you know and I say this even if I fight Canelo on there, that Canelo’s the only man they tried to rob Floyd Mayweather for. So I personally think if it’s close Golovkin won’t get it If it’s a close points decision that Canelo will get it,” Saunders said to Fighthub.

That’s a really bleak view that Saunders has of the Canelo vs. Golovkin 2 rematch. If Golovkin can only win if he beats Canelo by a decisive decision or by a knockout, it puts a lot of pressure on him to make sure that he leaves the results out of the hands of the judges this time around.

Saunders, 28, is still hoping he can fight the winner of the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. Saunders isn’t saying that he’s actively rooting for Triple G to win the rematch with Canelo on May 5th, but it would seem likely that would be the case. Golden Boy Promotions might not be willing to risk their top fighter Canelo against a slick fighter like Saunders. It doesn’t matter that he’s the WBO middleweight belt holder. Golden Boy just saw one of their most valuable chess pieces at middleweight David Lemieux lose to Saunders by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last December in Quebec. I don’t think Golden Boy is going to want to let Saunders do a similar number against the 5’9” Canelo. Saunders is too tall at 5’11”, and too hard to hit. Canelo is about the same size as Lemieux in height and reach. Lemieux didn’t have the height or reach to get to Saunders.

”When you’ve got a cash cow bringing in $15-20 million a show, are you really going to want to take a chance on getting beat?” Saunders said about Golden Boy Promotions not wanting to risk Canelo against him. ”At the moment it’s paying off with him and Golovkin because they’re getting ridiculous money but, let’s say they’re getting $100 million to take a chance whether he gets beat by Golovkin, where they’ll probably only be getting $25 million taking a chance to get beat by me,” Saunders said.

Well, if GGG beats Canelo, Saunders might get a chance to fight him in 2019, but probably not this year. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya has already said that he wants to put together a third fight between those 2 stars regardless of which one of them loses the May 5th rematch.