By Dan Ambrose: Saul Canelo Alvarez says he’s going to be looking to knockout IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin from the very beginning in their rematch on September 15. The 27-year-old Alvarez is going to be taking the fight to GGG in their rematch on HBO PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Canelo says he learned from his previous fight what he needs to do for him to beat Golovkin, and now he’s going to put the plan into effect when he gets the 36-year-old Kazakhstan fighter inside the ring.
What might make it tougher for Canelo to get the knockout of GGG is his lack of reach, size and his stamina problems. Canelo can’t knock Golovkin out with a single shot like did welterweight Amir Khan in their fight in 2016.
“From the beginning I will work him looking for the KO. That’s the way I want this fight to end, by knockout, for them to raise my hand after that knockout victory,” Canelo said about Golovkin.
To knockout Golovkin, Canelo will need to do things a lot differently. He can hang back on the ropes looking to counter him all night. The defensive posture that Canelo used against Golovkin was the same thing we saw from him in his fight against Austin Trout in 2013, and he didn’t knock him out. Canelo spent most of the second half of the Trout fight on the ropes, looking to throw pot shots and counter punch. Canelo was hurt from a body shot from Trout in the 7th round after knocking him down. Trout got back to his feet after being knocked down, and he hurt Canelo with a hard body shot. After that, Canelo retreated to the ropes and stayed there for the last five rounds. Trout got the better of Canelo in the last five rounds by jabbing him from the outside. However, the judges didn’t give Trout credit for getting the better of Canelo in the last five rounds. They instead gave Canelo a 12 round decision by the scores 115-112, 118-109 and 116-111. The fight appeared to be a draw in the eyes of the boxing fans.
If Canelo is serious about going after Triple G right away in their rematch in one month from now, it’s going to make things interesting. Golovkin is saying the same exact thing as Canelo, but he seems to more genuine with the way he’s saying. Canelo doesn’t have the track record to be believed when he talks about wanting to go after Golovkin immediately to try and knock him out on September 15. The boxing world saw last September that Canelo couldn’t physically put the pressure on Golovkin the way he needed to because of his stamina constraints that held him back. Canelo looked at times like he wanted to apply pressure on Golovkin, but he [physically couldn’t do it.
” All I know is that I’m prepared to win on the 15th of September, to give a great fight and make it absolutely clear that I’m the best middle weight in the world,” Canelo said in wanting to beat Golovkin and prove he’s the best fighter in the 160 pound weight class.
Canelo still won’t be viewed as the best fighter in the 160 pound weight class if he beats Golovkin. Depending on how well Canelo beat Golovkin, he may be viewed as being given a gift decision. A lot of boxing fans already think Canelo should have lost the first fight with Golovkin, and was given a questionable 12 round draw last September. If Canelo does soundly beat Golovkin, then he’ll be expected to move on and beat World Boxing Council interim middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, and then winner of the Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Billy Joe Saunders vs. Demetrius
Andrade fights. In other words, Canelo would need to win three more fights against those guys before he would be considered the best middleweight in the division. If Canelo elects not to fight them, then he would be looked at as a guy who failed to step up and fight the best.
Canelo won’t be given full credit even if he beats Golovkin, because he waited until he was 35-years-old before he finally fought him. Golovkin had been trying to get a fight against Canelo since he was 32-years-old. It wasn’t until he was 35 that Golden Boy Promotions finally made the fight. Did they do that intentionally in order to protect their valuable asset Canelo or was this just a coincidence?
”The first fight gave me the guidelines to know what to do in the second fight, to know what to do differently,” Canelo said about his first fight with Golovkin. ”In the first fight, I realized a lot of things. I learned that I can knock him out. I learned that I can hurt him. There are a lot of things I learned in that fight.”
Canelo had success at times when he was able to counter Golovkin with single shots after he would throw a punch and miss. When Golovkin was fighting from the outside and throwing jabs rather than counter punches, Canelo was helpless to anything. After receiving a pep talk from his trainer Chepo Reynoso late in the fight, Canelo came forward and threw a few more power shots in rounds 10, 11 and 12. The crowd got excited at seeing Canelo come forward for a change, and they cheered him loudly. However, Canelo still didn’t throw a lot of shots past the one minute mark of the last three rounds. It was always in the first minute of the round that Canelo would let his hands go. After that, he would then rest up for the remainder of the round so that he could catch his breath.
”Also in that first fight, it was my first fight officially at 160 pounds, at the 160 pound limit, so I had to adapt,” Canelo said. ”But now I’m surer and more confident about what I can do in this rematch.”
Canelo had fought his previous fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at a catch-weight of 164.5 pounds. Against Golovkin, Canelo surprisingly looked bigger than he did for the Chavez Jr. fight. Canelo packed on a lot of muscle for the Gololvkin hoping the added muscle weight would help him. Unfortunately, it didn’t work well for him.